Falling
by Eddieboi
Summary: When I chosen for the quarter quell what I expected was to die, in probably a very violent and or painful way what i didn't expect was to find a love that would give me the will to live.
1. Chapter 1

Falling Chapter I

You know, to be honest, I never thought that I would choose my own death, even before all the Hunger Games bullshit. And in this moment, I couldn't care less; I may be just another name on the list of people that have died in these games, but it will no longer matter to me. Soon, I'll be dead and gone. I will no longer have my life dictated by a government that does not care for me. My death will mean something, with my lover in my arms as he is now. In death, I will be free. Free of my horrible life, free from my hateful mother and her children. Free from the government controlled by frivolous people to whom my life was something to be tossed away for a moment's thrill and amusement.

It's weird, how being sent to my death has made me feel truly alive.

I hear a cannon blast, and realize one of us is dead. Could it be me? I suppose it could be. I have heard stories, about how people can still sense everything for a short while after they die. But after a second of thought, I decide I am still alive. I can still feel my heart beating frantically in my chest, as filled with adrenaline as I am. Could it be him? No, my arms are wrapped so tightly around him I can feel his own pulse. Pump, pump. Our hearts manage to stay in sync, though they are both beating extremely fast. They alternate in their life giving pulse, mine, his, mine, his, mine, his, still going on and on.

If only I could hold him like this forever. In a perfect world, I suppose I could have.

So, if it is neither me nor him to die, then it must have been her. Good riddance to the competition, though in other circumstances maybe we could have really been friends. Many a night during this hell, I have regretted saving her life so long ago, though I suppose now it doesn't particularly matter. Now that she is dead, I suppose those that betted on her are weeping in 'grief' and wishing my own death. They will get their wish, soon enough, though I have no doubt they will forget her quickly, fickle as they are.

Who will win, I wonder, with just me and him? I know he has thousands betting on him, more than the rest of the tributes by a long shot. The odds have been in his favor since the beginning, as I long learned has been nothing but a painful irony. My own odds have been slim, and I may have had a hundred voting on my victory at a rough guess. The payoff for those betting on me would be enormous, if it were at all likely I am going to survive the next thirty seconds. Of course, all those viewing at this very second know I'm going to die, so my odds are probably as quickly falling as I myself am. Not as if anyone is surprised, least of all myself. Every second I've lived up to this point has shocked me more than the last. Hope those betters aren't too disappointed. Had I stood a chance, I would have been the only shot at someone hitting it big at this point.

Funny, how what should have taken seconds seems to have taken up a year, almost like how training was several months that seemed to fly by like hours. I suppose this sudden slowing in time explains how people can claim to see their whole lives flash before their eyes in the moments before death. But I guess that will come later on for me. The only part of my mostly insignificant life that I value has been the past… Good god, how long has it been since I actually started to care about these stupid games. Months? Weeks? So much time spent in training, where I was so wrapped up in my own little world, hardly anything mattered but me… And him.

I have some time, now, as these moments seem to slow, and I may as well use them to tell you my story. I guess, if I have time enough to watch my life from start to finish, I have time enough to tell you the only part of life I actually enjoyed. It all began when I heard my name called.

"Peeta Mellark." Effie Trinket's chipper, exuberant voice rang throughout the town square. I had just been announced as one of the 'lucky' six chosen in District Twelve to compete in the Seventy Fifth Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell. The Quell had been announced mere days after the last Game had been won by some cripple named Phaestus, from District Three, who had managed to survive the Seventy Fourth by surrounding himself in mines and then sitting in one spot the whole entire games. He almost died of thirst in the process, but not even Mutts had been able to get at him. That had been less than a week before President Snow had announced the next game's theme.

As soon as the hype from Phaestus' victory had died down, all possible comments on his victory mentioned at least twice, Snow had come on the air to say that they were choosing the combatants for the next Quarter Quell nearly a year before the games are to actually commence, and that six would be chosen from each pool of possible tributes rather than the usual two.

They had been eagerly anticipating this quell for years, Caesar had raved, a Game that was projected to be bigger, more exciting, than any before. Not only that, but all of the participants were to train for the intervening time until the games were to actually begin, as a show of generosity from Capital. I had no doubt it was just to increase the blood and excitement associated with the games.

Apparently, the arena was already close to ready by the time the games were announced, but the Head Game Maker, Heavensbee, had been inspired by the exciting theme of the generosity of Capital and begged the President for the chance to provide a better arena to fit said theme, so they planned to possibly push the games back a few weeks even past the already distant date of one year's time to give the Game Makers more of a chance to bring that idea to fruition. And that means the combatants get a few more weeks to train, "Luckily for the tributes!," Caesar had proclaimed joyfully. "And the arena will be _big_," he had continued excitedly. Very big. With three times the normal amount of fighters, this game is going to be talked about for years and years to come.

And I get to be in it. Oh joy.


	2. Chapter 2

Hunger Games, I don't own it.

Falling Chapter II

My family had nothing to say, to me. Except for mother, always having a snappy remark about my inability to be a human in her eyes. Of course she would never say that around people, the peacekeepers in the room made her vocabulary gentler. But why should I care about her and her thoughts. From birth she had pitted my brothers against me. And they were happy she wouldn't ever hurt her darling angels. The fact she even came to me makes me sick. And of course the final words she says. "With Katniss Everdeen in the games District Twelve actually has a chance this year." Like I care my chances of life past the first few days are nonexistent.

The train ride I could actually say I enjoyed, fine food, a comfortable bed. It would have been perfect minus the company. Primrose Everdeen the first chosen, I could see that had she any tears left they would be rolling down her face. Katniss Everdeen chosen second before she could even volunteer in place for her sister. She had scowl on her face that looked more of disappointment then actual sadness. And the last of the ladies was Rinem, I didn't know much about her other than she was seventeen orphaned with her brothers and sisters, and did whatever she could to survive.

Of the men there was myself, Peeta the bread boy. Gale Hawthorne unofficial boyfriend of Katniss, he volunteered to be here, too bad he chose to let someone else live their life instead of me. I know he went with Katniss behind the fence to hunt so I suppose he has a high chance. And Soot was the last boy; a little thirteen year old who looked like he would be afraid of his own shadow, I knew he was the youngest of seven and as such was treated like the baby of the family.

"All righty everyone, we certainly have our work cut out for us with you lot." Effie Trinket said as she walked into the room with Haymitch Abernathy in tow. "Now this year is special, we have the entire year for one thing. And you will each be specially trained, by personal trainers who have been preparing for this opportunity for years. They will be your teachers, stylists, trainers, public relations representatives. All Haymitch will have to do is handle sponsors."

"We are all happy about that Pinkie" Haymitch said taking a blow at Effie's bright pink hair. He and Effie both sat down and started eating as well. "My job is much easier and the six of you have it much harder. As you know the upper districts tend to become the careers and wipe out the other districts before they even have a chance. Well guess what that's gonna be even bigger as well. But this year y'all have an advantage you will be specially trained, not just taught the basics. So any special training the careers would've gotten is now a lower issue."

The way he said it you might have thought that we had some glimmer of hope. I keep quiet; I don't want to make waves. In actuality I want one of my fellow tributes to just drive a knife into me. I don't even want to go forward any farther. I just wanted to die. And I will, painfully. Humiliated before the nation as they will watch the life fade from my eyes on their high definition televisions. Fun.

Dinner was quiet for the most part; Effie and Haymitch felt the need to scoop out the competition so from the dinner table we watched the other districts reaping. The reapings this year went from the bottom up starting with our own.

Twelve Coal: I see all six of us with our own little stats. Height, weight, age, school grades, possible jobs based on skills we have shown in the past. The amount of detail they went into our personal lives was scary. They knew about my mother and her beatings, they knew that Rinem took up work in the red light district to support herself and her family, they knew how the Everdeens father had passed away and that they too did whatever they could, they knew everything. I didn't know to be afraid or just violated. We were being labeled before we were even a foot in the capital.

Eleven Agriculture: the tributes from the district of agriculture looked as abused as a life on a plantation could be. Out of the six two were white and they looked as sunburnt as could be. Five of the six where tall and strong, the sixth however was the opposite. She was a little girl named Rue, she was twelve years old. She looked even smaller than Soot. If one thing could define that poor girl it was the look of absolute fear on her face.

Ten Livestock: the tributes all looked above all underweight and just plain angry. The information that they gotten from them showed that all had dropped out of school to help support their families. Though they were all skinny one thing was certain they were quick enough to chase and catch animals. One stuck out among them, the youngest male. His name was Aries he had this look of absolute anger like even the sun shining was reason enough for him to be mad. I don't know if that was his natural look or if it was from the scar he had running from his waist to his neck from a bull that got to him.

Nine Grain: like their fellow farmers from District Eleven they were large and mean looking. Their women just plain terrified me.

Eight Textiles: this took the cake for me. The oldest was fifteen, they were aspiring tailors and seamstresses. Children with a forced love of fashion.

Seven Lumber: these tributes were all muscle but the gave off a sense of gentle giant. I could easily see that above all they were scared and sad.

Six Travel: nothing special that I could tell they seemed more like thinkers than workers.

Five Power: these guys creeped me out more than anything they looked like shock therapy patients, or ticking time bombs.

Four Fishing: now this was the competition. Not only well fed and smart but quick and nimble in the water able to find food. I could tell from looking at them they had been swimming most of their lives. They looked well fed too; well District Four is richer not to mention who is going to notice one fish out of the ocean.

Three Technologies: if I thought District Six were thinkers then these guys were them on Ritalin and a little bit of that shock therapy from district five.

Two Masonry: these were true opponents tons of brute force backed up by the need for precision and perfection. I was genuinely fearful of a painful death before they were even done. But then everything changed when the third male was reaped. His name was Cato; the backstory shown on the television said he was an orphan trained from birth to be a peacekeeper. In that exact moment I was filled with two feelings unbridled fear and uncontrollable unexplainable lust. I had never believed in love, but in that moment I understood how people could confuse it for lust. It was wonderful yet almost as scary as this man I was seeing. Euphoria was thrown out and I was drawn back to reality when Soot finally broke down, crying in the realization that we were all sheep being led to the slaughter.

One Luxury: now these preppies made me mad. The people in twelve where starving and yet here are these adorable little sparkles they call teenagers each one fit and well fed. Sparkling white teeth, perfect hair, flawless skin, beautiful eyes that can pierce the soul. Disgusting.

By now dinners is well over and it is time to for us to go to our rest. That night was the first time the incubus visited me. He took the form of Cato and I dreamed he did quite wicked things to me. He chained me, raped me, burned me, cut me, and so much more before finally having his wicked way with me. Some would call this a nightmare but for me this was happiness. Every hit and blow was given a kiss. Every cut licked clean. And as he took me in that magnificent dream he held me close and whispered sweet words of love into my ear.

I woke up at dawn; short of breath covered in sweat with both a stain on the crotch of my boxers, and a raging erection. I take a cold shower but it does nothing relieve my aching sex. As I leave my shower and dress for breakfast I see the last moments of the sunrise and think to myself "We are so fucked".

I enter the dining car I see that Rinem and Soot are already there staring out the window. I go stand beside them silently and see that they are looking at our fate approaching very quickly. The mighty Capitol our home for the next year.

Just then Effie walked in Haymitch and the other tributes in tow. "Well everyone no time for breakfast the parade is today, which means we need to get you to the stylists now."

"The train hasn't even stopped yet Effie" Soot says softly.

"Yes but we have two minutes until it does. Now is everybody ready?" Effie asks with excitement shaking her voice.

"As we would ever be to sell our souls" Rinem said with a scowl on her face as the train screeched to a stop.

"That's the spirit princess." Haymitch said, I could smell the alcohol on him from here.

The train door opened and Effie led us out to a flash of photography. But of course she stopped to hog the camera. Then one by one so did we. I plastered on a smile and walked out last behind Rinem. I stood my ground for about thirty seconds before following the others to our escort. The trip through the capitol was definitely awe inspiring if I had cared for one word any of these pathetic people said.

When we arrived at the arena the parade would be held at our stylists Portia and Cinna explained that this year the parade was turned into a pageant of sorts; where the tributes would act out the goal of their districts. They led us to the back of the arena where a large stage was waiting for us

"Now instead of chariots pulled by horses this year, you will be placed on this stage that will move from the back of the arena to President Snow. Now that is ten minutes you have until your finale in front of the president. We can do whatever we want we choose to with the stage." Cinna said grabbing a tablet from his bag and began manipulating holograms across the room drawing the images as he spoke. "Now the stage will be moving long ways with these six obelisks one in the front, one in the back, two one each side with each one getting higher as you move back." As Cinna tapped away on the tablet the imagery came to life the walls showed us moving slowly with the shortest obelisk up front tallest in the back. "Now in years past people have focused on the coal but this year I wanna focus on the flame it produces. Now then I want a mountain of coal in the center of the obelisks. Now the entire time you will all stay on your respective obelisks except for you Peeta." At that both Cinna and Portia both looked at me with a glint of insanity in their eyes.

And I thought to myself "Yeah I'm fucked"


	3. Chapter 3

**I wish I owned the Hunger Games but sadly I do not. Story Time kiddos**.

Falling Chapter III

"Remind me why I have to this again," I say as I get strapped into my heavy Angel Gear by Cinna.

"Because you had the right height and weight distribution for the Angel Gear," Rinem said from atop her obelisk.

"Someone explain to me what the Angel Gear is again" Soot said from his obelisk.

"You will understand when the show starts Soot" Cinna said as he finished strapping me in. "Now Peeta the practice you did earlier was flawless think you can do it one more time?" He asked coming around to my front wrapping me in a fire proof toga.

"I think so, the coal holograms are almost the same as real coal right?" I ask as I begin walking to the back of the stage to my obelisk. I press a button at the base of it and a ladder popped out of the marble.

"Yes Peeta." He said as he hands me the staff. "Remember the staff will be the detonator for the final set of explosives, even when the other bombs go off the last set will not. All you have to do is prime and throw the staff it does not matter how just make sure it hits the coal" he tells me as I strap the staff on to the Angel Gear harness. "Now Peeta remember do not be afraid you have more than enough fuel to last the show and then some; so feel free to add a little flair for the camera." Cinna said as I reached the top. I gave him a thumbs up and looked upon my fellow tributes. "Show time in thirty seconds once those doors open, remember the flames around you aren't real. Peeta you will put out all six fires when you start the gear." He said backing up as the stage started to move. "Flames in three, two, one." He said then pushed the button that would surround the tips of the obelisks in flame.

I looked down at them. We surrounded a mountain of coal. It was mostly coal dust packed together so it would burn slowly and fully kind of like incense. Primrose was in the front on her single tower, and then I had the guys on my right and the ladies on my left. Soot and Rinem up front, Gale and Katniss to the back, with me of course at the end.

The flames covered us completely we could see out but Cinna had said that looking in all people would see is the flames. As he said I could see out my flames but I couldn't see through the others. The colossal doors opened for the stage as it moved through slowly. Cinna told me to wait until we were all out visible to start the show. I waited about ten seconds after I was visible to start.

Reaching through my toga I hit the button on my chest. The Angel Gear came to life and I felt every small little gear and cog move. From my back I felt the wings of the gear ignite with fire. I unclipped the staff and held it tight in my hand. The wings moved with my arms as they came to the resting position curled behind my back. Then I held my arms out so the wings would expand. And that they did tip to tip I had about a twenty five foot wingspan. I brought my hands back then forward once in a slow and gentle clapping motion, and the wings gave a strong flap. I was lifted off the obelisk about three inches then fell back down. The wings had easily cleared the flame and then the flap had put out all six. Not with wind of course but the sensors faked it putting mine out first then reaching slowly through the others to Primrose. I brought my wings back to resting position, taking the time to show them off.

Primrose began the show. She was wearing a red and black dancing dress that had sequins to sparkle in the embers. She reached down to her waist and from the air, using her specially made gloves, made small darts of flame laced in her fingers. She then began assaulting the mountain of coal with her fire darts. They would fly from her hand leaving a trail of embers and making a small explosion of coal dust leaving smoldering piles of dust behind.

Soot began his work next, his gloves rather than making darts made small discs of flame in his palm. His outfit was also quite formal like. A black suit with red sequins that would also glow like he was covered in flames. He would target the dust in the air and ignite the clouds into embers. As the discs flew from his hands they left no trail behind and would fly off and slowly burn off as well.

Rinem began with Soot. Her gloves worked in tandem with a special lipstick she wore. She would bring her hands to her mouth and in motion of blowing a kiss would send off flames in the shapes of a set of lips or a heart depending on which hand she used. Her flames were all for show to captivate the audience but once in a while she would get them in time with one of the kids' fires and her lips and hearts would blow up in the respective shape. She was dressed like Primrose only more revealing for a young woman like her, Primrose looked pretty but Rinem was beautiful.

About halfway through was when Gale and Katniss started. They were dressed liked me in togas. Gale was topless however in the light of the fire he wore black body paint that looked like it was made of ashes. It covered him like a tattoo outlining his muscles. His gloves where really special, from his fingertips whips of red flame. He used these whips to attack the now smaller mountain of coal. Every once and a while he would hit a buried bomb that would let off a lot of dust. This would in turn be collected by the three in the front to collect with their fires.

Katniss also had special gloves, she would bring her hands together in front of her then like pulling a bow, would make an arrow of fire that would arc through the air then explode on contact with mountain. When she would hit a bomb the whole stage would shake and dust would fly up to be ignited. She was just as revealed as Rinem in her toga but with the look of confidence on her she was to be feared rather than simply observed.

I saw we were nearing the president. So I began my bit as the rest finished up. I extended my arms and wings and gave a tremendous flap and rose into the sky. I flew straight up then smiled for a camera that I could tell was watching me. Then I flew downwards and adjusted my path so I would glide over our now small mountain. As I past I dropped my legs and ran across the rock, not needing to only add some flair as Cinna had said. As I flew/ran across the mountain with my wings extended, the remaining clouds of dust ignited by my wings as I passed. As I reached the end of the stage I gave another strong flap of the wings was back in the air. I then flew up as high as I could without having to flap like a chicken. I gave another flap and added a spin creating a small tornado of embers under and around me. Now I was high enough I primed the staff for detonation by holding down a small button on it. I then extended my arms, and thusly my wings, and allowed myself to fall. I gripped the staff tight as I fell. For a split second I imaged not saving myself just letting myself plummet to death, but then I realized if I died this early I could still be replaced. And someone else would suffer in my place. So I played my part. As I neared the ground I gave a flap with all my force, in the effort I threw the staff. As it made contact with the remaining rock it exploded. The last flap I made gave me enough energy to break into a glide as I drifted as gently as I could to my obelisk. I landed harshly dropping to my knees as the last of the coal burned away. I then rose back to my feet and gave a bow. The others followed suit as I rose and the last of the coal remained in a bright slowly burning 12. Made of actual coal not just the easily broken dust.

**A/N: so yeah let me know if y'all want to know what the other districts did, I brain stormed ideas but didn't find any of it relevant to plot so I decided for the time being not to mention them as it would just be filler. Leave a review telling me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Story time gather round children it is story time. I don't own The Hunger Games**.

Falling IV

I wake up to the noise being made and the light of the television in my room being turned on casting a red hue on the room. I start to sit up making sure I am covered as I am only in my underwear. As I pull up the blanket from my waist to my stomach. "Get out of my room right now." I say still half asleep rubbing my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the television. My eyes adjust and I see five smiling faces staring at me.

"But Peeta we have wonderful news for you." Primrose says innocently sitting at the foot of my bed.

"And we already let you sleep in, so rise and shine big boy." Rinem says as she yanks my curtains open letting in the bright sun.

I hiss and hide under the covers the light hurting my eyes the others start to laugh at me. "So what is the news so good you had to wake me up?" I ask poking my head above the blanket

"Check this out." Gale says with a wide smile on his face as he hits the play button on the television. It is only then that I realize the image that was paused on the screen it is our stage with the black mountain of coal and our pedestals still on fire.

The image begins to play and I hear the crowd cheering for us, I had been so nervous I blocked it out. I watch as my flaming wings stretch back and start our show with a mighty flap. When I rose up I looked magnificent and graceful even as I fell back to the obelisk. I watched as the replay of our act went through in all its glory. When it came to my part I was awe inspired that it was really me doing the amazing show. It was towards the end of my bit that I noticed the watermark in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It was Caesar Flickerman, I hear noise coming from the show but it's what I don't hear that astonishes me. I have silenced Caesar Flickerman, the man known for his incessant commentary during these spectacles. Finally our bit ends and the camera show Caesar and he begins his usual banter, but I am still confounded as to that I managed to finally shut him up if even for a few minutes.

"You are the fan favorite, and District Twelve is now as popular as the careers. They are even calling you The Fallen Angel." Soot said jumping for joy.

"And I'll do you even one better this year they are doing the interviews from Twelve to One. They want us to be the ones interviewed first." Katniss said from her spot next to Primrose. "Now get dressed it's time for breakfast." She said as she ushered the others out.

I get dressed and come out of my room to see a small feast of breakfast. A fifteen foot table covered to the max with food save room for eight people to sit and have plates. I notice two women walking around the table grabbing various things and taking them to the others. An Avox is a normal thing in The Capitol. But I still wasn't used to having mute slaves at my beck and call.

As I sit down one of the Avoxes is on my right pointing to my empty glass. I realize she is asking what I wish to drink I tell her water would be fine. I look to my left and see the other Avox pointing to my plate. I tell her I would like some toast and she walks around the table to where it was to bring me the platter filled with different toasts made with different breads of course only I could even tell the difference.

"Eat up boy you got your first day of training and then you are first in line for your interview tonight." Haymitch says as he gives his glass to the Avox who in turn fills it with what looks like whiskey.

"I'm first in line, why me?" I ask confused.

"Because right now you are hottest new thing, all social media and even news is filled with you. They want more of you. It is time for Peeta Mellark, The Fallen Angel." Effie said showing me a tablet with a picture of me in the Angel Gear. "Now you are going to a nice healthy meal, you are going to have a fun day at training, you get to come back here early and get ready, and then you are going for your interview."

"A fun day training to kill people great that will help me." I say sarcastically as I finish eating. Effie just scoffs at me then brushes me off as she heads to the elevator the six of us follow leaving Haymitch behind.

We enter the elevator and Effie hits the basement button. "Alright training is every day from ten to nine. Lunch break from one to two, then dinner from five to six. Try to eat healthy while still getting enough carbs. For lunch and dinner you will head back up to the twelfth floor of Tribute Tower. All training is going to be done on the first basement floor. You will be trained every day, save for Wednesdays and Sundays. Those are your days off in that time you may visit the gym, spa, or library all housed in the second basement floor. There are communal showers on both floors I encourage taking a shower after you are done physically training. If for any reason not to smell when in other training stations. Be sure to get a balance between physical training and learning. The trainers don't have a set schedule so you may practice with any trainer that is free. If they are busy you are more than welcome to join with another tribute just don't get into fights. You aren't here to make friends you already have enemies just don't make it any worse than that." As Effie finished the elevator came to a stop at the basement and the door opened with a ding. The rest filed out but I stayed behind.

"Shouldn't Haymitch be giving us the speech, what do you have a bet on us or something?" I ask as the door closes on us, leaving us in the elevator.

"Do you really want to know Mr. Mellark?" She asks sweetly. "You lot need someone who cares, Haymitch doesn't. To him you all are just pigs for slaughter. But I see more in you all. And frankly I am tired. I'm tired of watching you children come in here scared and hopeless. I want to leave. But you know what stops me? If I leave they can replace me in an instant, but he or she will care less than Haymitch. And frankly that is something you all can't afford. And before you accuse me of pitying you please understand when I look at you six, I see a sort of innocence, more so in the younger ones than I do in Ms. Everdeen and Mr. Hawthorne, and in the coming months and into the games that will slowly die even if you do not. And in you Mr. Mellark I see a pain one that I have not seen in a long time. So when I say for you all to have fun or to enjoy yourselves, I mean it. If you want me to out and say it I will. You all have numbered days so I want enjoy them. Now I want you to be honest with me." She hit the button for the door to open again. "Do you think you deserve someone who genuinely cares?" I say nothing; I can't even look at her. I simply walk out the now open door into the training floor.

I spend the day learning about herbs with Primrose and the small girl from District Eleven, Rue. She is sweet smiling and laughing with Primrose or Prim as she insists to be called. We learn how identify common edible plants. And how there is no perfect poison in nature and that all things that grow have an antidote or way of curing. With that in mind the trainer teaches us how to make an all-purpose antidote that will cause the body to forcibly remove all toxins.

When lunch comes around and we all began to finish up at our work stations Prim and I decided to head up a little early so we could be back early and first in line. As we left I saw him. My incubus. He and one of the girls from two are training with throwing knives. He is flowing steadily as he throws each knife to watch him is like seeing a ballet. Each holographic target doesn't last long for him. The girl however is blunt and to the point no sense of flow just the kill and moving on.

"Come on lover boy" Prim says snapping me out of my trance. "Got a thing for miss psycho over there I can tell by the way you stare at them."

"You could say that" I say vaguely, laughing in the back of my mind.

We head up to eat, neither of us wanting more than just a salad. Cravings from the day talking about herbs. We head back down and decide to separate, she goes off with our new friend Rue and I decide to try my luck at a combat station. I want to get the feel for fighting before I actually put something sharp in my hand. So I go to a hand to hand combat station.

I tell the trainer I would like to learn and he says that is fine just to wait and see if anyone else wanted to join. Aries, the angry looking one from District Ten sauntered over to the hand to hand station and announced he would join us. He just plain doesn't look friendly and I am somewhat scared to be around him. He says nothing to me as we go through the lesson. The instructor teaches us what to look for in our enemy and how to exploit them.

Finally he asks to see us spar to gauge us both for future lessons. So me and Aries take our places in a padded ring. He begins by running at me, not thinking I go with my instinct trying to exploit the opening he is giving me. He comes in for a running punch but I grab his wrist. In a turning motion I put my other hand under his arm. Then using the energy from his run with my natural strength I, still while turning, throw him over my body and slam him into the ground. I can visibly see he is winded but when I try to help him up he smacks my hand away. Then the instructor comes to us saying that what we did was enough. He pulls me to the side asking if I had any formal training.

"No sir." I say calmly "I was just doing what you said I found an opening the rest was all instinct I don't know how I did it." I'm being a hundred percent honest now, I have no idea how I did it and doubt I could produce the same result again.

"Alright" the instructor says like he is impressed. "You have a natural way of being a defensive fighter. And with your natural strength I think you could be a great fighter. Maybe even find you a good weapon."

"Thank you" I say as I'm about to leave. When I do I see I have an audience. Well one person and that one person is Cato. He looks at me like he is studying me. "Hi there" I muster up with all my courage; I'm probably blushing like a school girl right now.

"Nice work angel boy" He says pointing behind me laughing. I turn around to see Aries is still on the ground refusing help. "Really did a number on him" he says still laughing. His laugh is beautiful to me.

Having worked up a sweat I decide to take a shower. I leave the main training area and leave down a hallway to the men's restrooms. As I arrive I get a change of clothes from a small locker area and set them aside. I strip and throw my dirty clothes into a hamper. I then head over to the room where the showers are and find it empty. I pick a shower stall and set the water to warm.

I step into the shower and feel the warm water caress my skin. I'm still adjusting to having hot water at the turn of a lever. I step under the flow of water and start by washing my face. I hear the door to the shower room open and close. As I turn to see who came it I am thrown up against the wall by Cato.

"You think you are so badass. You think you have a chance at winning this game well you are wrong." He says forcefully as he pins my shoulders to the wall the cold sending shivers down my back. I say nothing, nor do I move as I am afraid he might leave I want him. It is then that I realize he is naked too. Right as I glance down I am punched in the stomach. "Did I say you could look at me, you fucking fag." He said as I fall down onto the cold tile.

He moves to start kicking me and I do nothing to stop him. I want him to. I want him to break me and make me bloody and broken. He looks down on me and notices my sex is aching with desire. "You are actually enjoying this aren't you." He gently places his foot on my penis then begins move it. It hurts the amount of force he is using but I love every second of it. I begin to moan and a smirk appears on his face. He lifts his foot I let out a cry at the loss of contact. Then he quickly brings his foot back down onto my cock with force. I cry out he has really hurt me this time. But I still love it. I grab my pained cock in my hands and he kicks me again. "Did I say you could touch yourself fag."

He then forces me upright onto my knees and shoves his cock in my face. He is large, I always thought myself average but he is much larger than me. As I take in his beautiful form he grabs my jaw and forces my mouth open. I take incentive and open my mouth as wide as I can. He surprises me by grabbing the back of my head and forcing all of his cock into my mouth. I repress my gag reflex forcing myself to deep throat him. He simply waits there and I begin to feel my lungs burn with the need for air. He gives a dark chuckle that makes my cock pulse with need. He backs away from me a few inches

"Alright you didn't gag that means you are a good cocksucker, now service me. I haven't touched your face yet because you got that precious interview today, but I will break your fucking jaw if I feel any tooth."

I don't say anything he turns the water up from warm to hot, angles the shower head to cover him as leans against the tile wall. I muster up some bravery and reach out I grab his large cock and stroke it a few times. I open my mouth and begin to blow him. If I had to guess he is about nine inches long. I get down about half way before I feel my gag reflex again. And again I ignore it and force my way down. I make it to the base and begin to hum. I hear him moan and know I must be doing a good job. I come back up to the tip and take a deep breath before I go back down. My gag reflex doesn't ache this time and I make the whole length in my mouth without any issue.

This seemed to encourage him as he grabs the back of my head and begins to force me up and down, back and forth. Over and over again, I suspect he is enjoying himself because he is moaning. I let myself get comfortable giving him head I reach down to stroke my own cock, still aching and wanting attention. I stroke myself feeling my release coming soon. Just then he kicks me in chest forcing me down onto my back.

"I still haven't said you can touch yourself." He says as he kneels down between my legs. He forces my legs apart and positions himself. I am scared but also excited; I do not want him to stop. I want him to take my virginity; I want him to be rough. I want him to take what he wants then and there. And he does.

He enters me quickly I give a moaning scream. The pain is so divine; his size is ripping me open I can feel blood leaving me, slowly trickling out. That doesn't deter him. He reaches under me and pulls me into a hug so I am in his lap. He turns us around braces me against a wall as he begins to pound into me. I love this feeling of being so full. As he fucks me he grabs my hips and begins moving me in time with his thrusts. His cock is brushing against that spot inside me giving me so much pleasure. Finally I cry out, he has brought me to completion. I coat my chest with my seed. He pulls out and drops me onto my knees. He stands up still stroking his cock. I know he is close so I move forward. The first shot arcs above my face coating my forehead leaving a trail down my nose. I don't let him waste anymore. I put the head of his cock in my mouth and he continues to shoot his load. I swallow all of it, when he is done I begin to service him again.

"Hungry little cockwhore aren't you?" he asks as he forces me off of him. He throws me down under the spray of the water. "Get ready you have a big night tonight" He says as he leaves. I feel sad that he is gone but I was so happy I got the chance to please him even if this was only just once.

I begin to scrub myself clean reach behind myself to check if I am still bleeding. I am. Part of me is glad. I finish cleaning myself and get dressed and head upstairs to get ready for tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

Yay another chapter, wish I owned something but I own nothing.

Falling V

I pace back and forth in the room I was given for my preparations. Cinna and Portia had already done my makeup and my hair. The makeup was subtle just enough so that it would be easier for the cameras to get a clear view of my face. They tell me that I have a handsome face, but I know I'm nothing special. My hair is done so that the blonde is brighter but they added what looked like coal dust to my hair so that it was both bright and dark and the same time.

My outfit was a mess, simple enough flame style black and red gloves, red shirt, black vest, and pants simple enough. Wrong on the back of my vest is another set of wings ready to burn. These are the Angel Gear though it is some kind of contraption of wires and mesh I think that Cinna made as a last minute addition.

"Okay Peeta, this one isn't much different from the Angel Gear" Cinna says as he finishes his double checks. "The on switch is in your right hand just snap your fingers as you extend your arms out. Flap your arms for a minute or two and then to turn it off clap your hands with your arms still extended in front of you. Also your outfit is special for these wings. Don't worry just do your bit when they ask then sit back down."

"I still don't know what to say Haymitch never went over it with me." I say as he sits down. "Effie gave me a crash course about how to act but I was so nervous I forgot it."

"Don't worry Peeta, now come on you are a wonderful guy and they are dying to get to know you. You can take it whatever way you want to. But in my opinion don't try to be something you are not, just be plain Peeta Mellark the bread boy from District Twelve. They want to make you some grand thing but you are still that scared boy from twelve, don't show that fear though." Cinna says as he stands me in front of the mirror. "Take away the flashy outfit, the hair, the makeup and what are you. Peeta Mellark. And that is all you need to be."

Just then an aid walks in saying I had to go wait in the wings as the show was about to start. I go to where I'm told to wait. Caesar starts the show with some one-liners about a celebrity break up, then a political scandal. Finally he starts to talk about me; a clip begins to play behind him. The camera shifts and the audience is now watching the performance clip. Watching the clip only makes me more nervous, the people are probably expecting some grand and regal persona but I'm not sure I can give that. Finally the clip ends and Caesar continues his banter.

"And now without further ado here he is, the man everyone talking about, your Fallen Angel, Peeta Mellark." Caesar introduces me and they begin play some kind of religious fanfare I once heard in school. I plaster on a smile as I walk out calmly to Caesar he holds out his hand to shake I take it and he pulls me into a hug. "Here he is folks the Fallen Angel." Caesar then guides me to his interview area. We sit on comfortable chairs and he gestures for the audience to settle down.

"So Peeta, tell us what was it like flying before the world?" He asks with a hint of humor in his voice.

"It was truly amazing." I say thinking back. "At first I was so nervous I didn't even hear the crowd. But then after watching the others it was my turn. And flying like that it was all so much to take in. Because a few days ago I was just the bakers boy in twelve. And then I'm in The Capitol flying with flaming wings. So when I was flying I had so much going through my mind I mean what mom and dad back home thought. What did my brothers think? So much just going through my mind and before I knew it, it was over." I say lying about how my thoughts were really about how easy it would be to die.

"And tell us a little about the Angel Gear, flaming wings weren't you at all scared." Caesar asks

"Well yes I was terrified at first but after a little bit of practice I kinda had the flying down. And as far as the flames are concerned I grew up in a bakery, in District Twelve, I'm somewhat used to fire." I say calmly. "In fact I'm wearing some flaming wings now." I say nonchalantly.

"Really Peeta; may we have a little looksee?" He asks gesturing me to stand up and take center stage.

"Of course" I say. I head to the middle of the stage and look out to the audience. I bring my hands together in a prayer form. I then extend my arms out snapping my right index finger and thumb. This time instead of two wings, six open out all on fire. I give two light flaps of the wings sending waves of embers around me and into the audience. I can tell they are mystified by the little fires. They go out upon touch, they aren't even hot. I give a turn and one final flap then clap my hands like Cinna showed me and the wings explode into more embers. Now my outfit has changed all across my black vest and pants, little red sparks shimmer like stars. As if the embers had embedded themselves in my clothes.

"Better not try that at home kids." The conversations flowed easier from there; until I made the mistake of mentioning my family again. "Yes now speaking of your family we understand from what was gathered of your life family life is tough. Care to elaborate?" He says. I want to hit him for asking such a pointed question but then I realize that people are asking that all over the place because they broadcasted that my mother beat me.

"Yes it has been hard. But she is my mother and I love her." Lie. "People think that being a baker is easy everyone needs to eat right." Truth. "But that isn't the case few people can afford bread." Truth. "And running a business can be so stressful." Lie. "And of course raising three children can be a burden on anyone." Truth. "I believe that if it weren't for the stress my family could be a little closer." Lie. "My brothers went through the same thing." Lie. "And I know she feels bad about it." Lie "And I does hurt my dad and brothers to see it." I don't know if I'm lying or not. At this point to ham it up I begin to cry a little. In actuality I don't care everyone has problems. At least my last year of life will be away from her.

"Peeta Mellark everyone. I'm gonna send us to commercial so Peeta can have a moment to compose himself, I'm sorry we put you through that." Caesar says handing me a tissue and putting a hand on my shoulder. I can visually see the camera pan out to the audience and I excuse myself. I go into the bathroom and begin to laugh quietly. If Caesar bought it then they all must have. I didn't necessarily want pity but whatever works.

I go back out and Caesar pulls me aside. "Son if you are not up to it you don't have to come back out."

"No its fine, I'm fine. I mean this is what the people want right." I say sitting back in the seat. "Let's do this come on." I say eagerly.

"All right kiddo" He says sitting down, telling the cameramen that whenever they are ready. The stage manager gives a three two one motion with his fingers. And Caesar is off again. "Welcome back folks." From there Caesar and I went on to talk about all sorts of little things. Childhood experiences. What I would do if I won. Finally he got to the topic of love.

"So Peeta, tell us is there a special girl you got back home." He asked winking at me.

"Well not back home, but there is someone I have my eye on." I say smiling looking down at my lap.

"Oh someone eh." Caesar says mysteriously. "Tell me Peeta I asked about a girl but could this someone be a guy and is this someone in the games with you?" There is a collective murmur throughout the audience.

"Well this person is in the games, but maybe he is a guy or maybe I'm trying to shake you off her trail." I say smiling. Winking at the camera.

"Not even the slightest hint." Caesar asked giving me puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry but my lips are sealed." Suddenly a buzzer went off signaling the end of the show.

"Well folks that's him the Fallen Angel Peeta Mellark. What will the games next year bring, romance, heart break, and will our angel find his love? I don't know yet but you can bet we will find out together. Good night everybody." Caesar waved off to the camera and I began to wave goodbye as well.

After the audience began to head out Cinna and Effie came out. "Peeta that was perfect" She gives me a kiss on the cheek as Cinna gives me a nod. "Now come on the others are waiting in the car. We are going out to dinner to celebrate I booked the best table at the best restaurant in town." Effie said smiling. She then gave me a knowing look that made me realize maybe she was being sincere earlier.

"I just wanted to apologize fo.." I didn't finish as she put three fingers to my lips to silence me.

"It is okay Peeta I understand none of this is easy for you, now let's go the others are waiting." She says taking my hand and leading me out to the limo where the others are waiting.

_A/N: So yeah review tell me your thoughts predictions etc etc yeah._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So yeah sorry I don't update very quickly, I promise I will stop procrastinating …. Eventually. In the meantime enjoy the chapter. I don't own jack. **

**Falling Chapter VI**

**Month 12**

In the first month of my training I tried to get a feel for all the training areas. Prim was amazing at the Identifying and Using Common Herbs, between her and Rue I think they could have been running the training station after about three weeks. I managed to study a lot of different uses and medicinal properties but most of it got jumbled around and mixed up in my head. I continued taking hand to hand combat daily. The teacher was impressed by my natural need for defense and as such taught me only defensive techniques. As far as attacking others was concerned the only moves I knew were immediate counters to the defensive move I was learning.

Haymitch was sober less and less, and it was evident that Effie was growing tired of him. I knew alcoholism was horrible but Haymitch Abernathy redefined it in my mind. Effie on the other hand was beginning to smother us. After the first week she was waking us up at six in the morning for breakfast. Then she began forcing us to eat more saying we needed the energy and that a little more meat on our bones would go a long way.

Cato began to visit me regularly; all he ever did was physical exercises and combat training so he was always covered in sweat. Meaning that when he followed me to the showers nobody looked twice. He was very careful, he never hit my face or below my elbows. The darkest bruises were on my butt, and around my thighs. But they were beautiful, he was an artist and my body was the canvas, amazing shades of reds, blues, and purples decorated my body.

**Month 11**

Once certain that I was well enough empty handed I began to fight using different weapons. Katniss and Gale attempted to show me how to use a bow, but I was awful, a point Cato was sure to bring up later. I tried my hand at swordplay. While I was decent at it, I wasn't particularly good. I tried using a handgun; I manage to hit the target every time, but nowhere near the mark. I attempted throwing knifes and I was pretty well from the get go hitting the target every time and hitting the bulls eye twice, however I showed no signs improvement so I figured I would try again at a later date. Finally the last weapon to be put in my hand was a staff, it was perfect. I began going over the basics and was learning quickly.

I was also learning all the various herbs we might encounter. I didn't know every single one like Prim and Rue, but I could identify all the major ones. All major poisons I could identify by scent and few even taste. I learned how to make various pastes and salves to avoid infection, treat burns; I even learned how to make sleep syrup. And I memorized the recipe for an all-purpose antidote, taken before any food that might be poisonous, and if toxins enter the body while the antidote is in the system, it would force removal. I also began learning general first aid. I learned how to make impromptu stitches, how to properly set a broken arm, leg, nose, or shoulder. I soon noticed the amount of time Prim spent at the first aid station. By the end of our lessons I was convinced she wanted to be able to perform surgery in the arena.

It was in this time that I noticed Soot started following around Prim and Rue like a lost puppy. It was days later that I noticed he didn't care about Prim he followed Rue.

Haymitch was only getting more out of control. Effie was petitioning the gamemakers if she could replace him and that even without any experience at least she was sober and able to handle all of our needs on her own. The gamemakers said that they would get back to her, which was understandable as this kind of request had only been granted once before. The morphlings of district six where the only living victors and as their name implies, they were addicted to morphling, to the point of letting their tributes die without any help.

Cato began to get bolder; he began to hit my face not enough for a noticeable bruise but enough to be sore for a good while. In addition to this he would leave hickeys all over my body. And each one had its own set of bite marks. The area that my underwear covered was always changing color, as new bruises covered as the old ones faded. My arms had clear hand print bruises of where his favorite places to grab were. And at any given time my chest had at least ten bruises ranging in sizes from a coin to a large book. He also began to get more verbal in belittling me, and making me feel inadequate. Though I loved how physical he was, his words stung worse than he could ever physically hurt me.

**Month 10**

Though initially I tried everything, I focused more on combat stations, and learning to tell poisons from home remedies. So I decided to take a small break from the two and learn more things. In the hunting station I learned how to set basic traps and snares; however aside from the simplest ones I was pathetic. It was in the survival station that my years of being in a family of bakers came to use. My mother and father had always trusted me with frosting the designs on cakes. At the survival station I learned how to turn mud, twigs, dirt, and various fauna into my art supplies. Using what I already knew from cake decorating I was able to lay a foundation for camouflage, that I was sure to build on later.

Effie was still waiting on the gamemakers decision but that didn't stop her from forcing Haymitch into temporary sobriety to do the little parts of his job. Which lead to more complaining on both of their parts. It took a while for me to gain the confidence but I managed to force myself to ask Effie for some make up. As bruises were beginning to show on my neck and even some on my face. She gave me an almost knowing look, and said. "Peeta you can ask me for anything you need, I figured it was a matter of time." She then gave me a knowing smile and pulled me into a hug.

I still met with Cato regularly I don't know if people knew what we were doing but really nobody let on that they did. He would still beat me now that I was wearing makeup he stopped caring if he hit my face. I've had to set my nose back into place twice already. He being more physical now was a blessing as he stopped saying the hurting words as much. But he didn't stop completely. In addition to my face he also began hurting me more. Now the hickeys that covered my body each had bite marks that when they were made had clearly broken the skin. He got a kick out of spitting my blood in my face. However, there were some days when he was too exhausted to hit me, too tired to berate me. Those days were some of my favorites; though I loved it when he hit me, when he wouldn't hit me was when I had the chance to worship him the way I wanted.

Instead of taking what he wanted he would lean back against the wall of the showers and say to service him. I had never had any experience with anyone besides him, but I studied him more than anything they tried to teach me in training. I knew his body better than I knew my own. When I would orally service him I would massage his thighs. One time I was bold enough to eat him out, he wouldn't admit it but he loved it. He was moaning loudly by the time I was finished. He called me a faggot then punched me in the stomach after that. But it didn't stop him from forcing me to eat him out when he was in control. When he would fuck me I would suck around his collar bone. Right where his neck met his chest was a sensitive spot for him; I would lick, kiss, suck and nip at that one spot. He beat me bloody when he saw it left a mark. But I didn't care it was a sign to anyone else that he was mine.

**Month 9**

I started paying more attention to Cato while he was training. He was violent with anything with a blade. With a sword he was unmatched against the other tributes. He could throw a spear about twenty yards and still hit the mark. He could throw to forty at still hit the target. With a throwing knife he was deadly accurate. And with regular knife he was no less deadly. In the survival station I saw him shred a rabbit and separate usable meat from unusable in a matter of what felt like seconds. With a hand gun he was a near perfect shot, and with a rifle he was just as good. Guns are rarely in the games, but there has been one or two here and there.

In this month I also picked up an old habit. By breaking the razor I was given to shave with I now had a blade. I began simple enough wrists, inner thighs, and the sides of my ankles. I was careful with my legs as not to impede my walking too much. Effie and Rinem began watching me very closely then they would look at each other with the same worried glance. Then they would notice I saw them and look away.

Rinem and Effie both grew more and more affectionate. Rinem began joining me more and more at training stations. In the mornings before breakfast she would give me a hug which I found very weird because this whole time she struck me as very closed off. Effie was also paying a strange amount of attention to me. She was sending the Avoxes to me to refill my cup or put more food on my plate. No one else seemed to notice but I did.

When I began to cut myself Cato didn't notice immediately. But when he did he was pissed. "You do not do that. I catch you with anymore marks I will break your fucking hand so you can't do this anymore!" He would scream. He asked me where my razor was I told him how I cut a small part of the bottom of my shoe to hold it. He then went to get it and I begged him to carve me with it. For him to make me bleed, for him to hold my life in his hands. He gave me a disgusted look. He dropped my razor down the drain of the shower and for the first time he beat me without the intention of having sex. He avoided my penis and focused on my chest, arms, and legs. I was covered in bruises and he left me bloody on the bathroom floor.

**Month 8**

After that Cato left me alone. I hated every minute of it. Did I disgust him now? Did I lose whatever appeal to him I had? I would cry myself to sleep asking questions like this. I began getting scared thinking maybe he found someone else. Then I got scared because what if this person would rat him out. This whole time I wanted nothing more than to carve myself. But I was afraid if I did that then he would never come back.

Effie must have noticed something was off with me because her and Rinem began making sure that I had something to do every single day. Rinem would be at every station with me not really saying much aside from offering tips on whatever we would be working on. Somehow Prim caught on to what was going on and began joining me and Rinem. At night they had me begin teaching them how to bake from scratch. Effie got a real kick out of it as in the capitol Avoxes handle majority of cooking. She couldn't bake to save her life but when I showed her how to properly frost and decorate she took to it like a fish to water saying. "It's kinda like doing my make up." Rinem was amazing at applying the right amount of color were it was needed, I made a note to take her to the camouflage station

**Month 7**

Cato hasn't been with me in over a month. I don't like it I miss his touch. Almost all my bruises are gone now. I broke another razor I am cutting more than ever. He won't even look at me now. I even went to the sword station. He acted like I didn't exist. What was even more I noticed that the angry looking boy from 10, Aries, was getting very friendly with all the careers.

I began extensive weapon training. With various tridents and spears I was near flawless in close combat and I could hit a target well enough. With a scythe I could fight perfectly, I surprised the instructor with my speedy learning.

I began to notice that Rue had taught Soot how to climb trees, rather well actually. The two of them had managed to climb trees and jump from branch to branch. Granted the trees in the survival station weren't necessarily the tallest but they got the job done.

I began taking Rinem with me to the survival station to show her the art of camouflage. She was almost better than me. Blending into trees, stones and at one point even walls.

Now that my bruises were gone I stopped wearing makeup I finally began learning how to swim. As embarrassing as it sounds I never learned how to swim. The District Four tributes made me look pathetic.

**Month 6**

Cato has still been avoiding me. It's driving me nuts I miss his touch, his fists, even his cruel words. I have begun cutting indiscriminately. My chest has cuts ranging from a few inches to several feet of intricate cut designs. I try to focus at combat stations but eyes are always drawn to where Cato is. When I had finally had enough I began carving and I didn't stop.

I woke up two days later; I was in bed with my arms and legs wrapped in bandages. "So you finally woke up Peeta." Effie said from a chair by my bed. "Peeta please, why are you doing this to yourself?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

I couldn't say anything. No words came to my mind as I sat before the crying woman.

"Please Peeta; I have come to terms with losing you wonderful children. But I cannot bear for this to be the way you go. Not even going to give it your best chance to live." She was silently crying as she spoke. "You wanna know why I took this job. I can assure you it wasn't for the hype of the games. It isn't because I support the games at all. In all honesty I hate them. Contrary to popular belief a lot of Capitol citizens do. But I took this job to make a difference. And not some tiny difference of self-gratification by being at protests and endorsing the acts of terror against the games. No here I can make a real difference, by being here and being with you my tributes. Would you like to know a secret? The game makers have approved my petition to remove Haymitch. I will handle everything for you all now. And I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you all. But Peeta there is something I want from you. I want you to go in there with every intention to leave. Because Peeta I look at you and I see a scared child. A scared child I used to see in the mirror. Please Peeta I beg of you stop this."

I gave her a nod. Then she wrapped her arms around me, and I couldn't help but whisper "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it." She said kindly.

**Month 5**

It took me about a week to recuperate get back on my feet. In the two days that I was unconscious Effie spread a rumor that I had fallen really sick. When I first came out of my room Rinem and Prim pulled me into a hug so tight I couldn't breathe. After Prim let go Rinem stayed hugging me for just another minute. "Please take care of yourself." She whispered in my so softly I could barely hear it.

When I got back to the training center there was a collective pause as if noticing I was back. And then business as usual. I saw everyone minding their business training to kill each other. I wondered how long these team ups would last in the games. The average Hunger Games lasts anywhere from a few days to two weeks. So as a guess a week in the arena would probably be about the same as a game lasting two or three days.

I began to fill my days with training, even things I didn't care about. I learned how to properly cook meals aside from desserts and breads. I took a crash course of chemistry, which mostly comprised of the instructor telling us how to make effective impromptu bombs. I learned the proper way to disassemble a gun clean it the reassemble it. I learned the proper way to sharpen blades. I learned how to whistle. I learned how to properly fight most kinds of animals.

After being ignored for so long I had finally had enough. I followed Cato into the shower and cornered him. "Please, take me back." I begged. "I'll do anything you want." I then fell to the ground and began attempting to service him. He then kicked me to the ground and began to beat me after I was sore everywhere, he put me back on my knees and forced me to service him orally. I had forgotten what it felt like to be truly used by Cato. As he forced his way into my mouth I began to gag as I was no longer familiar with his sex. Seeing that I was having trouble he pulled out of my mouth and pushed me back as he crouched down. I wanted to scream as he entered me, it was bliss. Fingers were no match for the length and girth of Cato. I knew I was bleeding but I didn't care. Then I did the unexpected I kissed him. Not rough and sexual, but a simple and gentle kiss. I had dreamed of him kissing me for a long time but he never did and the closest I ever got was when he let me kiss his neck. To me complete and utter surprise he began kissing back. He was gentle and sweet. I noticed he stopped moving while he kissed me, I didn't question it I loved the feeling of his lips on mine.

Then he simply left. Left me on the ground in the showers with a hard on and a slight trickle of blood from behind me. I put my hands up to my lips and I felt them tingle. It was then that I noticed that the water was freezing cold. And that the kiss had shattered my perception of time.

**Month 4**

Training continued as usual, I had gained one of the highest scores in the Identifying and Using Common Herbs station next to Prim and Rue. I learned how to fight with any staff like weapon. Spears were easy with me, tridents child's play, a scythe I could fight with in my sleep, a simple staff I could use in about any combat situation. Guns I learned how to check ammo, proper holding for most models, how to properly reload, and how to identify the right bullets for the right gun. I also noticed that the one career tribute Aries wasn't on friendly terms with was Cato.

Effie was really enjoying her new perks as mentor; even if she didn't HAVE to use them it didn't mean she didn't WANT to use them. When I saw her in her off time she was studying previous games as well as she could. She did not enjoy the bloodshed and killing but she was determined to make sure that she was just as qualified for this job as Haymitch was.

In this month I began spending as much time with Cato as possible. He was beating me less and less, and began simply letting me worship his body. When he would do this he would let me kiss him as I pleasured him. He reciprocated half-heartedly.

**Month 3**

The days were getting numbered from here on in. Training was prioritized and our days off were cut to one day as tributes were randomly divided to have either Sunday or Wednesday filled. As fate would have it me and Cato shared having Wednesday off. The rest of District 2 had Sundays, and I shared Wednesday with Soot but he never awoke before noon. On Tuesdays I would spend the night on the second floor. And spend all of Wednesday with Cato, sneaking back to the twelfth floor after everyone was asleep. Though he was calmer now only having me pleasure him, though I still begged him to be rough with me to hit me and fill our love making with sweet pain.

**Month 2**

At this point I was spending every night with Cato. I would eat dinner with my fellow tributes from twelve, and then when they were asleep I would sneak down to the second floor and spend the nights with Cato. He mostly had me service him, I had to beg him to hurt me and even then I could tell he wasn't into it.

**Month 1**

Cato told me that we should focus on our training that we should spend less time together. We still spent our days off together, but they were spent with me servicing him. He would get into it and enjoy himself but I saw that he no longer wanted to hurt me. I wasn't quite sure how to handle that.

Then a curve ball. A week before the games the game makers announced that the games were to be pushed back one month for final preparations to be made to the arena. None of the tributes knew what to feel. On one hand we had one more month of standard life. On the other hand we knew it was prolonging the inevitable. Soot and Prim were the only ones happy about the push back on the twelfth floor.

**Month 0**

This extra month started simple enough. Then things got complicated at the last second.

The day of the private sessions with the game makers we were all preparing out chosen skills. We were told we had a fifteen minute window to show off whatever we felt was our best skill. I knew Gale and Katniss were going to be using their bows. Primrose told me about how she was going to poison then save the life of a volunteer, using some bizarre herb mixture that would allow the host to die then a rush of chemicals somewhat like adrenalin would bring them back, frankly that scared me more than Gale and Katniss combined. Rinem who had gotten much better at camouflage than me said that she was going to hide herself in the room, with several other people. Soot was going to climb trees and brandish some moves with a throwing dagger.

It was late in the day around five o clock and I was second to last behind Gale and in front of Soot. I walked in and the game makers all moved as if the best show was about to be put on. It was then I remember I am The Fallen Angel I have to be at a higher level. So I kept to my plan. I hit a button on the wall to put a visor between the game makers and me. I could set up secretly and show only what I wanted.

My makeup took the longest, as I applied the look of tree bark, and moss, I gave instructions to the helpers I was assigned. One looked traumatized the minute I said I needed help I assumed it was from Primrose. I dictated the instructions for how I wanted the holograms to appear and where I wanted the trees to be placed. When I finally finished my makeup I prepared a quickie self-lighting Molotov and fastened it to my belt. Lastly I picked out the scythe I would use. Looking I saw I had seven minutes left I hid in one of the two trees placing the scythe just out of view from the game makers. I told my assistants to raise the visors then to start the holograms.

The visors rose, and I could tell they were looking for me then I remember Rinem had played the hide and seek game with them as well. The First hologram ran past my hiding place and I sprang into action. I quickly sent the scythe through the hologram's neck and into its chest. I then turned around and used the staff of the scythe to block a holographic sword. Then I jammed the bladeless end of the scythe into the neck of the hologram. And so I began using strictly defenses and counters. Soon holographic weapons surrounded my feet. I saw that a hologram in the distance was readying a bow to shoot. I knew I was taking a risk by doing this but what did I have to lose. I began spinning the staff of the scythe in my hands. Twirling it round and round, as the scythe was a few inches shorter than me I had to be careful not to scratch the ground. The arrow flew from the hologram's bow. My plan worked right as the arrow neared me I managed to hit it with the spinning scythe knocking it to the ground. I threw the scythe into the tree lucky for me the blade imbedded itself in the wood. I picked up a holographic javelin from the ground and quickly dispatched the last hologram. To end with some flare I threw my Molotov on the ground causing a bright explosion in which time I ran and hid on the tree that I wasn't hiding in, in the beginning.

I stayed very still as I watched them get reoriented many were looking for me trying to find where I was hidden if I was even in their line of sight. However a few others where more pre occupied with the scythe I managed to imbed in a tree. And only two were staring at the scorch marks I left on the floor and ceiling. Then the buzzer signaled that my time was up and left my hiding spot. I bowed before the game makers and received a round of applause.

I went from the session room straight to the twelfth floor to my room. When I got there I was greeted by Cato. He was on my bed waiting for me.

"I have to say I love the view from this room." He said calmly looking out the window at the oncoming darkness, I can tell the sun is setting right now out of few of the window. That is when I realized that this was the closest thing to idle conversation we had ever had.

"Yeah." I said nervously blushing.

"You are probably wondering why I'm here aren't you?" he asked still looking out the window. "I came to tell you that tomorrow in the games not to look for me. Do not think that whatever we may have is a form of alliance." My heart was broken, granted I knew that we weren't destined for the happily ever after

"I can't say I'm surprised." I muttered. "Honestly I'm glad you had the decency to tell me this upfront. But one last thing before you leave. Please I have given you everything, my love, my life, my virginity. And now I just want one thing from you." I said walking to the window with him.

"What do you want?" He asked looking away from me. I couldn't tell but I had a hunch he was blushing.

"I want you to kiss me. But not rough and dominating like you did when we fucked. I want you to be gentle and loving. Please I know it sounds like I'm just using you to fulfill some sick delusi…." I was cut off as he placed his lips on my own.

He kissed me and time stopped. I didn't care that I was walking into the arms of death tomorrow. Right then and there I felt truly loved. With that one kiss I started to blush. I felt not only my cheeks but my ears go red. I put my hands behind his neck as he buried his in my hair. I decide to end my pathetic dream and I broke away from him but to my surprise he only took a deep breath and continued to kiss me.

Feeling revitalized I began pushing him towards the bed. He followed my lead and pulled us both down I was on top of him. I began unbuttoning his shirt gently and I began to nip at the spot on his collarbone. He growled and rolled us over; he ripped open my shirt and began attacking my neck with his mouth. He then began kissing his way down my chest. When he reached my nipples he took the right into his mouth and played with the other one. He alternated for a good while and didn't move until I was moaning and panting. He then kissed his way down my stomach leaving various hickeys on his way down. He then got to my pants and all but ripped them off of me. He then carefully took off my underwear as slowly as he could. My erection popped out and he licked his lips. He took me into his mouth and the new sensation sent waves of pleasure through my body. My body wasn't used to this much stimulation I felt myself begin to shake with anticipation.

"Cato, please if you don't stop I'm going to finish to soon."

He looked up with lust filled eyes. He gave my manhood one long slow lick from the base up. He swirled the tip of his tongue on the tip of the head and sent shocks up my spine. He took off his pants and underwear. Then he rolled us over again so I was on top of him. He then placed three fingers in my mouth.

"Suck these for me" he said as he began to kiss my neck darkening the hickeys he put there earlier. I did as he said and coated his fingers with a layer of saliva. Once he deemed his fingers read he pulled them out of my mouth and turned me around so I was staring at his hard cock. "Suck that as well."

I took his length into my mouth as best as I could, and slowly worked my way down. Then he began to lightly tease my entrance. It started as making small circles with his fingers. Then he began to lick me. When I felt his tongue I started to moan around his cock, causing him to grunt and pant. Eager to get me to moan more he worked his finger into me while he teased me with his tongue. I stopped moving up and down his length and deepthroated him while he worked into me. He added another finger and found my prostate. I began moaning more than ever around his dick, causing him to let out a deep moan, the sound made me quiver with anticipation. He began working a third finger into me and I had to come up for air. When I came up his fingers were pumping in and out of me like a piston. I was aching with need and I thought I might pass out soon.

"Cato, please" I moaned out, I was too lost to form any other words. Cato seemed to get the message as he picked me up and lowered me down onto him. He did not fuck me that night. He made love to me. He was sweet and gentle. He was attentive to my needs. I came early on in the beginning from sensory overload. As he was kissing me, and pumping my length in time with his thrusts. Then I told him not to hold back and he went full force. His mouth didn't leave my neck; his left arm was braced behind my back. His right hand was pumping my length as he made love to me like a beast. Finally with a deep moan he came inside of me sending me over the edge again.

We fell over me on his chest the both of us covered in sweat and panting. I looked up to him and started to kiss him. I broke away and put my head on his shoulder and admired the work I did to his collarbone.

"This doesn't change anything does it?" I asked as the realization set in.

He sat up, inadvertently pushing me off him. "No." He said solemnly looking away from me. "It doesn't."

"I guess this is goodbye then" I asked looking away from him as well.

"Please, don't make this harder than it has to be" He said standing up. "No matter what happens only one person gets out of that arena."

He takes a moment to get dressed. I glance at the time. "Everyone should be asleep now. Long day tomorrow, you know."

"Yeah" he says looking out the window again. He leaves and I cry myself to sleep.

**Day 1**

Nobody says anything over breakfast. Not much really to say.

We eat as much as we can stomach, which isn't much but we have to force something down.

At nine forty five we make our way to the roof. Then in sets of two we are picked up by a pair of latters that drop from a hovercraft. I notice that the latter paralyzed who ever grabbed it, I figure it must be so no one tries to commit suicide at the last second.

We take our seats in the hovercraft; right as I sit down a technician comes to give me a shot.

"This shot holds your tracker. It won't hurt a bit." True to his word the shot is painless.

I sleep the entirety of the flight. I didn't want to, but there wasn't really anything else to do. I'm woken up by Effie. "C'mon we got a schedule to keep." She says as she pulls me from the hovercraft through some building onto some kind of tram. I notice that there are to trams, I figure one goes clock wise and the other counter clockwise. I also notice me and Effie are the only ones from twelve on this tram. Cato is on the other as well.

"Shouldn't you be with the others?" I ask as the tram begins to move.

"Peeta they have each other. Not to mention Cinna and Portia. But you are by yourself on this side." She says putting an arm around me.

The tram moves quickly before coming to a quick stop. "Aries La Rue" He got up and began walking down a lit path. The tram had a few more stops before. "Peeta Mellark" Effie got up with me and led me down the path.

I got changed into whatever the game makers decided was appropriate for the occasion. The shirt was a tight long sleeve, almost like a T-shirt but the fabric could breathe and really moved with me almost like a second skin. The pants were the same material and the same design just less tight the waistband was tight but by the time it got to my ankles it had room to breathe and then some. The outfit came with a small pair of googles, and a pair of gloves; I don't particularly know what they are for.

"Well if I had to guess based of the outfit expect a lot of wind. The googles imply swimming or maybe sand." Effie said inspecting me. "I just wanted to say that no matter what happens I have cherished the time we spent together. And if anyone deserves to come out of this it is you Peeta. Here I got you a present." She handed me a heart shaped gold locket. "I noticed that you didn't have token to take with you so I had this made."

Upon further inspection the locket was engraved with 'Peeta Mellark' with angel wings. On the back was a list of letters. A single 'C' all by itself. Underneath that was an 'ET' and underneath that was a single 'R'.

"Thank you Effie, its beautiful." I say about to open it. But she grabs my hands before I can.

"Not now." She says quickly. Placing the locket into my shirt. "The Trinket family is planning a sponsorship for you; you will know which gift is mine. When you get it is when I want you to open the locket. I have a plan, I have known you for a year and this plan is built around you. Just act naturally my plan is set to change as you go through the games just stay alive and don't lose the locket okay."

Before I can say anything a bell chimes signaling it is time to begin. As custom I must stand on a platform and be risen into the arena. So I go the platform in the back of the room.

"I promise I will do whatever it takes." She says to me as a glass tube rises up around me.

"I know you will. Thank you Effie." I say as the platform begins to rise up into a tube. The glass around me is to protect me from getting caught in the tube around it. I wait for what seems like hours in the tube just slowly rising.

"You will be entering the arena soon. Do not leave the platform before the gong as you will quickly regret the decision." A robotic voice resonates through the tube. Why is it going over the simplest rule don't start early? Aren't the land mines subtle enough? "Be careful and watch your step."

I see above me the tube open up above me. I brace myself I only have one minute to study the arena. The arena is getting closer and closer. I close my eyes and prepare for the bright light.

Light floods around me; I open my eyes and realize why we spent so long in the tubes. We are above the clouds right now I look down and clouds impede my view. I do not see the Cornucopia.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN LET THE 75TH HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!" the voice of Claudius Templesmith resonates around us. "and may the odds be ever in your favor."

I look around and study as much as I can I see that all the tributes are on their platforms, and then I notice something above their heads. In turn I look above my head and see a zip line without a body harness. Instead there is a pair of handlebars attached to a sort of pulley system. Each zip line went in different directions so away from the circle of tributes a few directly through the middle of the circle. I figure that it is set up so that we should be an equal distance from each other. Suddenly the googles and the gloves made perfect sense.

I look around and see that many people already have their hands on the handles and are simply waiting for the gong. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew, almost knocking the girl next to me, a young one from District Eight, off her platform. She stumbles for a second then grabs the handles in an attempt to steady herself, but accidently pushes the handles of the edge. She falls for about three seconds before we hear a sudden snap and her pulley lets go of the line. I suddenly remember the warning from before and am now reconsidering jumping off. Well having nothing to study in the first minute made it go ever so slowly. I figure since we have yet to hear a cannon blast she must still be falling.

Finally we hear the gong I look around and see no one has moved. A few seconds later we hear the cannon signal that the first casualty has occurred. I look around again still no one has moved. So I take a deep breath, hold the handles tight, and jumped.

**A/n: Omigod this took days to write but I'm excited the games have begun. One dead seventy to go. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love the smell of murder in the morning.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well ladies and gentlemen let's get the show on the road.**

**Falling Chapter VII**

I jump and I feel my feet leave the platform suddenly I can't move. I don't know if it is another paralytic or if I'm just afraid to fall. My zip line goes directly through the middle of the circle formed by the tributes. I ride the line and notice only a few have been brave enough to make the leap. After I leave the circle the handle bars give an unexpected jerk and suddenly jump. I look up and see that the zip line has ended and I am now on a secure metal track. I then realize that the zip lines were only a defense mechanism if tributes jumped early.

Suddenly the track starts to angle downward and it feels like a free fall as I begin to enter the clouds that once hindered my sight. I'm suddenly grateful for the goggles as I begin to get wet. It's then that I realize that the clothes, while not waterproof, are water resistant. I have been falling through the clouds for a while now and begin to wonder how high up we were.

I feel the track begin to curve back to a more horizontal angle and I suddenly break the cloud cover. I am able to look down to begin inspecting the arena. I gliding over a city, I see skyscrapers and large apartment complexes. I see different buildings of different sizes and shapes. I see small parks with ponds and miniature lakes. I begin getting lower and am now skimming in between the skyscrapers. There are too many to count and as I get further down I see even more buildings in between them. I am still far above the ground maybe thirty or forty stories up. I begin to focus on the ground it has paved roads with sidewalks. There are traffic lights, but no visible cars. I see a few stairwells that lead into the ground I assume there is a subway or some form of underground area.

After about two hundred and fifty blocks I see that I am nearing the ground. I look forward and see a park that will probably be my landing spot; I see a small cornucopia as I get nearer. As I get closer and lower I feel a brake inside my handles activate and I stop about a foot off the ground and see that the track ended into the mini cornucopia I let go and gracefully fall flat on my face. I take a minute to roll over and stretch out my body, grateful to have the ground under me again.

I get up and walk to the small cornucopia. It is about ten feet tall and five feet wide. Inside is a small table with a backpack on top of it. I look around and see the backpack is the only thing I have to start with. Assuming that the nearest tributes are miles away I take a minute to examine the backpack.

Inside the pockets I find: a revolver with six shots, a dagger in its sheath, a ration pack filled with jerky, a small first aid kit, a roll of fishing line marked one hundred feet long, a fifty count box of matches, two large filled water bottles, and a pair of sunglasses. I feel this might be a gold mine. In a city the only thing I could kill might be rats. Maybe rabbit, or some other small mammal in the parks but I doubt it. A gun means I can kill at the most six people without getting near them. The sunglasses I don't need now but could come in handy, I guess. Water is always good in the games. Fire could be useful but can be very risky.

I put everything back into the backpack and decide to begin walking. I begin heading towards the center of the arena. In the distance I see the tubes that we entered the arena in. They stand high above the skyscrapers and enter the cloud cover. I figure it is the safest direction from either the force field at the edge of the arena and it wouldn't tempt the game makers to try and injure me. I begin walking back on the road under the track. I look down the stairs and see that there is a gate chained shut. Eager to stay moving I decide to ignore the possibility of an underground area for the time being. I look up and see the cloud cover is darkening. Either the sun is going down or it is going to rain soon. I speed my walking to a brisk pace.

I walk about three blocks in before I start to notice the gaps in the road. Small trenches in the ground only about an inch across. They were in every road intersecting with my path. After the third time seeing these gaps I stop to look down at it. I kneel down to look into crevice and see nothing. Out of curiosity I make a left turn and begin following the crevice. I am still a good distance from the tubes.

I follow the crevice for a short while, keeping a good pace. After about thirty minutes of walking I see a bus stop and decide to take a small break. The bus stop is simple, a metal bench with three glass walls and a roof. I look out at the sky and see it is only getting darker. I take out one of the water bottles it has a small lid fastened to the top like a thermos. I take a small swig and quickly realize that it was not filled with water but some sort of carbonated beverage. Not eager to have possibly just poisoned myself I spit it out and begin to better inspect the bottle. On the bottom of the bottle I see a warning label.

_Energy Tonic, One sip for pep in your step, ½ cup for hours of nonstop energy.  
>Exercise caution when drinking, drinking more than one cup of tonic in twelve hour period may lead to cardiac arrest.<br>Five cups per container, the cap of the container measures out ¼ cup.  
>Those with heart conditions should not ingest.<em>

I decide to save the deadly energy drink for a time when I really need it. I check the other bottle and see it is filled with the same tonic. I decide to wait on finding something to drink and inspect my jerky. I am able to see that it is regular beef jerky. I have ten pieces and decide to ration it, only eating one right now and save the rest for later. I eat the jerky it is dry and tough. I decide to better inspect the contents of my back pack as not to be caught off guard again.

I investigate the sunglasses first I put them on and take them off instantly. Looking through them warps my vision. I cannot see how they would be useful, but as they were put with the bag I figure they might be better to have than to get rid of. Waste not, want not.

I take out the first aid kit and begin investigating it. It is rather large and takes up most of the weight in my back pack. Inside are bandages for small nicks and cuts. Rolls of gauze and bandages for larger wounds. Several needles and small roll of stitching thread. Some surgical scissors for the stitches and bandages. Aspirin pills, and penicillin pills and ointment. At the bottom is a set of twelve injection needles and some vials of morphling. With this much morphling I could probably keep an addict happy for maybe two weeks. The average dose of morphling is one of these needles, and would last about a day. I in the six vials I have more than enough.

The gun is a standard model; I do not remember the make and model. However I know that the bullets are the right size, and I know which way to point it.

I inspect the dagger and notice that at the bottom of the hilt there is a screw top. I open it and a battery falls out. I return the battery to its rightful spot and unsheathe the dagger. I stand up for good measure and tap the blade on the metal bench. Small sparks go flying and I instantly retract the dagger.

Rather than playing with the dagger more I decide to put it away and keep moving. I manage to walk all of two blocks before I felt a drop of water on my head. I look up and see what looks like the beginning of a wall of water. Not wanting to get sick I hurry into the closest building I can find. Before I make it even two steps I covered in water and only more is coming. By the time I am under an awning of the building I am soaked, the water resistant clothes keep me somewhat dry but I decide not to test for how long. I run through a revolving door not even checking what kind of building I am in.

I begin to look around; I have entered a hotel lobby. I am surrounded by luxurious furniture, elegantly designed couches, hand carved tables, and other high end furniture. There are also potted plants everywhere, beautiful flowers and small trees. On the tables there are vases, large books written in languages I don't understand. On the wall are various paintings, as an art lover I am internally amazed to see such beautiful works, but as a tribute I couldn't care less.

I look to my right and see a door marked 'Stairwell' next to a pair of elevators. On my left through an archway I see a sign marked 'Dining Area'. Across the room is a sign with arrows showing the location of various rooms all from 001 to 100.

Just past the elevators is what I assume to be the front desk. It is nothing more than a small room separated from the lobby by a counter that came up to my chest. And not ten steps from this tall counter is a swivel door that leads behind the desk. I figure it is best to get the key to whatever room I choose, and as such if there is a key it would be in or around the front desk. The counter is about ten feet long so I figure there might be something I can do behind it.

The way I figure I can hide in a hotel room long term. With a key people would pass right by my room and not think 'oh shit he is in this exact room' as opposed to if I were to just bust the door down.

I go behind the counter and I am honestly surprised how easy this will be. Behind the counter instead of the things you might expect in a hotel, pens notepads maybe a computer, there is simply a wall of little pockets holding key cards. Each pocket is labeled with a room number going from 001 to 999. At the top of the wall is a simple pocket labeled 'Penthouse' I immediately decide against using the penthouse. I want, not only to, conceal my location but to deter others from staying here.

After thinking on it for a few minutes I am struck with an idea. I take the key to the penthouse and sit on the floor. I then close my eyes, stick out my hand, and at random pick a key card. The room I choose is room 591. I immediately replace the taken key with the key to the pent house.

Part one is done, I have concealed my location, now to stop others from trying to stay here. After thinking on it I had another idea. I found a way for me to keep track of the keys while shuffling them. I grab key 001 and switch it with key 100. To keep track of the keys I have already switched I flip them backwards. I then proceed to switch every key with its inverse number. Key 001 switched with 100, 002 with 200. Lastly numbers that were the same forwards and backwards I shuffled aimlessly, put them back, and decided that I simply wouldn't use them. Before leaving I flipped all the keys back forward and made a mental note that the penthouse key was in the pocket for room 195.

I take the key to room 591 and stand up, I look down and see a small water stain were I was sitting. I put my hand on my shirt and remember I am still wet. I decide it is probably best that I get out of these clothes. I head to the elevator and push the button. The door opens instantly as the elevator was already there.

I head up to the fifth floor; the doors open and see a sign pointing me in the direction of the rooms. I walk out the door but reach in and hit the button to send the elevator to the first floor. No need to give away my location. I navigate my way through the maze of hallways and finally find room 591. With a swipe of the card I am in the room.

I walk in and the room is simple enough. Definitely more than what I need, the victors of all the other games are probably screaming with hate. On my left is a flat screen television, under it is a small dresser, just past the dresser is a small refrigerator, and past that is a door I am assuming that leads to the bathroom. Across from the main door were I am standing is a small couch, to the right of that in the center of the room is a small circular table with four chairs. Lastly to my immediate right is a king size bed with a night stand holding a lamp, the remote to the television, under the remote was a folded paper that I couldn't tell what it was. On the wall next to the bed, the bed being about a foot and a half away, was a hotel air conditioning unit.

I decide it is best to get the wet clothes off before I get sick. I walk into the room and the first thing I notice is without windows in this room the silence is deafening. I grab the remote and turn on the television while walking to the bathroom. The show playing was none other than the games. I enter the bathroom and strip down to my underwear, leaving on the locket that Effie gave me, hoping there weren't any cameras. In previous games they do not even care about censorship, the only place they don't put cameras is in tents. Even then they are sometimes able to hide them in the larger tents.

Just then I hear the voice of Caesar Flickerman saying "Peeta Mellark, our Fallen Angel, can we get a minute with you out here" I think for a minute whether or not I should leave in just my boxers, then a thought occurs. Maybe if I show off my body I could get more sponsors or at least more fans. Sometimes having a large fan base can influence game makers to things easier for you.

I decide to through caution to the wind, I'm most likely going to die anyway so what do I have to lose. So I step out in just the pair of blue boxers and I immediately hear an applause break from the television. Sit Indian style on the bed uncaring if people peer through the fly of my boxers. I look at the television and Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith are looking back at me on the left side of the screen on the right I see myself. Casually I look at my crotch and see that I am not flashing the world, rather I am teasing them with a slight miss.

"Caesar, Claudius, what can I help you with?" I ask resting my back against the wall the view of my crotch is still just out of reach, because I am sitting cross legged the outline of my sex in the boxers is just out of sight.

"Well we were just wondering how you were doing on the first night of the games, but we can come back if now isn't good." I hold back a laugh as if time of day matters in the games I remember one game was nothing but night for the first three days.

"No now is a good time with the games you never know when the next peaceful moment might be." I try to be confident as if the games don't faze me. Confidence gets admirers, a sob story gets pity. If I was twelve or, not to sound sexist, a girl I could play that card, but I am a guy who is seventeen. Meaning if I play that card I would only lose fans.

"Well Peeta first let me say I'm glad to see that you were the first one to discover the trick with TVs you can watch live coverage of the games from any television in the games. Be sure to use this to your advantage." He says smiling then adding. "And we would love to get your thoughts and opinions live."

"Well Caesar, I would be happy to I'm sure you will know whenever I'm watching which I'm sure will be often. So I'm the first to find a TV and turn it on? Wow. So Caesar, between friends, can you be of any help to me? Or is that not allowed?" I ask flashing a grin.

"Peeta, I would help any way I could. But I can't" he says pantomiming wiping a tear. "But I am allowed to give various hints and pass along messages from sponsors. On that note Peeta between the rain and you being in a windowless room you probably haven't seen it but the sun is about to go down I have a counter here saying you have roughly four minutes. Can we get that counter on the screen." The counter appeared below our heads showing a time of 4:16 and that was ticking down. "Now Peeta I'm not allowed to say what is going to happen let's just say that you are going to want to be in a place and position where you are not easily moved." The clock showed 3:51. "Now you may not realize what is happening right away but you see that paper on the night stand." I grab it. "Yes that one. What happens is going to happen twice a day once at dawn once at sun down. Now there are hundreds literally thousands of that piece of paper across the city now hopefully you can figure out what happened. I cannot tell you what happens but if you figure it out I can confirm or deny whatever theory you have. I have just been told I can give you a hint. It has something to do with these." Suddenly the entire screen is playing a clip of me kneeling down in the street to examine the crevice. Our faces are back on the screen at the end of the clip. The clock has dropped to 2:33

"Well Caesar thank you very much for the help. Anything else before I need to secure myself?" I glance around and notice a spot between the bed and the wall and begin to move. "Will this work?" I ask sitting in the corner.

"Yeah I suppose that will do let's keep talking just making sure you are holding on tight." The clock now says 1:58.

"So Peeta tell us your opinion of the girl from Eight. I believe you were standing right next to her." Claudius says eager to get in on the conversation. 1:36.

"Well Claudius, I think it really could have happened to anyone. Although between us a thirteen year old girl from district eight isn't much of challenge if it could have happened to a harder opponent that would have been great. But in the games what can you do." I say trying not to sound completely cold. 0:45.

"Well let's see Ms. Velvet Laronte scored an eight in the private sessions, you managed a ten. This year was a tough scale." 0:29.

"Really I scored a ten" I say honestly surprised as I didn't see the results. "I didn't know that I went straight to bed after the sessions." Not technically lying. 0:17.

"Well since you missed it to sum it up. Mr. Cato of District 2 received a score of 11 along with the elder Ms. Everdeen. You, Mr. Hawthorne, the younger Ms. Everdeen, and Mr. La Rue of District 10 all received tens. While the rest of the tributes scored between 5 and 9." Caesar says quickly. 0:09 "Now Peeta, we have much to cover so we will get back to you later."

0:00

I feel nothing but how tight I am squeezed between the wall and the bed. Suddenly I feel movement. And my back is pressed heavily against the wall; I suddenly am pushed towards the bed as well as the wall behind me. I force pushing me is only getting stronger and stronger. The remote flies off the and hits the wall it makes a loud noise but does not sound like it shattered. The force pushing me is getting stronger and stronger. I felt my eyes pushed back into their sockets and I feel my internal organs trying to adjust to the force exacted on them. The pressure on my lungs is making it hard to breathe. Just as quick as it started it was over and I am slammed into the wall and hit my head. I go dizzy for a moment but I'm just glad I can breathe easily again. I stand up but I fall back on the bed. I hear a canon blast and for split second I think it is mine that I have died from some kind of internal organ damage. But to my surprise I'm still alive.

I look around and see the back pack managed to stay at the foot of the bed. The paper which held Caesars clue is now under the table. I walk over and grab the paper it is a thick paper which I can tell has been folded many times. I begin to unfold and unravel it on the floor.

"Now Peeta, the shift is going to happen twice a day every day now can you tell us what the shift is exactly." Caesar said.

I finish unfolding the paper it is about six feet by seven feet. It contained what looked like hundreds of circles each one inside another that's when it hits me. This is a now useless map of the city.

"Interesting I have to say I love the idea, however in practice it leaves much to be desired." I say turning to the TV. "A series of rings inside each other. Each ring is a city block. I am assuming that each ring moves differently as to explain so many different rings and why not just use larger ones. So that is two tributes killed from the terrain alone. Although I must admit I'm curious who and how just died."

"Well Peeta it looks like it was Mr. Edgar Birch, of District 7." Claudius added and they began showing a clip of one the gentle giants from Seven. He was going up a set of stairs when suddenly he was slammed against the wall. He stays pinned to the wall for a solid minute, leaving me to guess what happened next. When the city stopped moving he was flung over the railing of the stairs, where he fell nine stories until he landed head first on the ground level. They stopped the clip before it got to intense but we saw enough of it.

"Now Peeta we have decided as another tool for tributes to use we will keep the countdown playing here on the show." Caesar said calmly. "Although for the time being you are the only one to utilize it." The countdown is once again below our heads. 10:39:42

Roughly ten and a half hours so I better make the most of it. "Well guys if I have ten hours until the next shift I better get some rest while I can. I look forward to our next chat. Out of curiosity can you tell me if there are any tributes nearby?" I ask trying to be cheeky.

Claudius and Caesar exchange a look then look back at me. "The shift has put you in close proximity to three other tributes, we just can't tell you exactly where they are. But Peeta understand we are helping all tributes."

"Of course not worry my friends I understand." I say smiling at them. "Well best to get some rest. Goodnight."

I do a few errands before bed; I check my back pack make sure everything is alright from the shift; aside from the tumble everything is fine. Lastly I take a quick shower, I don't know if there are any cameras in the bathroom or even in the shower but I figure if anyone is watching me I should give them a show.

I lay down in the bathtub, with the shower still gently spraying water on me. I place my hand on my sex and begin to gently and slowly masturbate. I stop every other minute or so to fondle my balls and play with my nipples to give anyone watching a show. I then hike my knees up into my chest so I can easily reach my hole. I begin teasing myself, imagining it was Cato touching me. I imagined Cato slowly entering me and making love to me in front of millions. I have to admit the idea turns me on I quickly blow a small load onto my chest. I stand back under the spray and clean my chest, I allow my finger to catch a small portion of my seed and I place the finger in my mouth.

After I am done with my shower I put my boxers back on and I put the clothes up on the shower rod to dry. I elect to leave the TV on should anything important happen. I crawl underneath the blankets and quickly dose off.

**So for those of you keeping score at home that is two out of seventy two dead. The first to die was one of the girls from District Eight. The Second was a boy from District Seven. All questions, concerns, love confessions, admissions of guilt, and death threats are to be left in the form of review. For all other inquiries be sure to submit the proper forms to your local court of appeals and we shall get back to you in a non-timely manner.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hooray for new chapter. I don't own a thing.**

Falling Chapter VIII

I wake up and the first thing I feel is aching hunger. I sit up and my stomach begins to growl. My light eating yesterday is taking its toll; I decide to eat another portion of the jerky. As I begin to stand I see that the television is showing two of the other tributes in the middle of the screen walking on a side walk. I recognize them both by the numbers on the back of their clothes. Two number tens, one is the boy Aries I recognize him by his scars, in the past year he has let his blonde hair grow out so that it is a wild mess of yellow falling behind his shoulders. He is holding a shot gun and has a backpack flung over his shoulder. The boy with him also from ten is someone who I remember seeing but never made an impression on my mind large enough for me to remember his name. He is tall with brown hair; he sports a small goatee and is carrying a rather unimpressive size knife and he has no pack with him. They both hold flash lights as they navigate the dark.

On the television i also see a countdown in the corner of the screen that reads 31:19. As Caesar and Claudius aren't anywhere to be seen on screen I figure that the two of them must be asleep or on break. I wouldn't put it past the game makers to put us in a dome with controlled weather systems. I remember learning about one of the earlier games, I think it was sixty or sixty one, that the arena was a graveyard with eternal nighttime. The only way to tell the time was that the moon was full at noon and then went through a full lunar cycle over twenty four hours. At midnight the moon was in a lunar eclipse.

I reach over to my backpack at the foot of the bed and pull out another strip of jerky. I decide that I should probably begin to look for some food. Even with this small ration of jerky I still have a long way to go if I plan to survive.

I get up and head to the bathroom I relieve myself and wash my face. I cup my hands together and begin to drink from the faucet. I grab the now dry clothes from the shower and put them on. I leave the bathroom and grab the electric knife from the backpack. Picking up the backpack and placing it on the bed. I place the knife in my pocket and put the key card into my back pocket. I then leave the room as quietly as possible. I doubt anyone is near but it never hurts to be careful. I silently make my way back to the elevator. I decide at the last second to take the stairs and avoid using the elevator. I remind myself to be quick I have about thirty minutes to find a safe place to be during the shift.

As I descend I think of what to do next. If I stay holed up in the hotel that is just asking the gamemakers to send trouble my way. But I can't exactly go looking for trouble now can I. When I reach the ground floor I notice that this hotel has a basement level that can't be reached by elevator. When I get to the lobby is when I realize that what should be knocked out of place isn't.

I look around and see that all the furniture is still the same as it was last night. Curious I try and move a small coffee table. To my surprise it is securely fastened to the floor. I then reach onto the table where a small vase is sitting. I try to pick up the vase but it appears to be glued to the table. I then remember the table back in my room. How it stayed in its place through the shift.

As I walk across the lobby I see that a chair had fallen over and moved and decide that most chairs will move during shifts. I remember the archway marked dining area and decide that is my best option to look for food. I go under the archway and down a hallway to find a set of glass double doors. I enter a large dining room and see the chairs thrown in a haphazard line on one end of the room. I look around and see that all the tables are chairless. I see plates and centerpieces on the tables but no cutlery or napkins. I see the napkins all over the room and the cutlery litters the floor beside the chairs. I look past the tables and see a small dance floor and stage. On the ceiling above the dance floor there is a crystal chandelier, and above the dining area is a skylight, still dark as dawn has yet to come.

Eager to keep moving I navigate my way through the tables to a door across the room. I enter into a kitchen and see pots, pans, and kitchen utensils all across the floor. To my immediate right there is a large three basin sink. And to my left there is a rack holding plates and bowls, I then see that they are held in place by various brackets. There is a prep table in the center of the room. The room is rectangular, with stovetop ovens lining the walls to my left and right. Across the room there are three refrigerators with the door to a walk in freezer. As I walk further in I notice that there is a door marked 'Pantry' next to the door to the freezer. I walk between the prep table and a row of ovens and notice that the ovens are longer than the ovens I'm used to seeing. These could probably hold three turkeys each. This is a real professional kitchen the thought crosses my mind that that this room is larger than my house, and I wonder what my family is doing. It is not that I care the thought simply came to me.

I am now across the room at the refrigerators; they stand taller than me by about two feet. I don't know what to expect as I pull the handle. The door opens and a little light turns on revealing seven shelves of cold ready to cook food. I look at this food and I am left in awe. I wonder if I am just lucky or if every fridge and pantry is stocked as well as this one. The particular fridge I have opened is full of meat. Beef, poultry, fish, pork, if it was meat I'm sure it could be found inside. The shelves are all full; there is enough meat for a small feast. Underneath the main compartment of the fridge is the freezer, I pull it open and to my surprise it is barren. I place my hand inside and feel it is ice cold. But completely empty.

I move to the center fridge I open it to see that this one is lined with dairy products. Different kinds of milks, cheeses, yogurts line the shelves. Again I check the freezer, while this one holds a couple gallons of ice cream and frozen yogurt there is still plenty of room in the freezer.

I then check the last refrigerator this one stores vegetables, all bunched together in an array of various greens, a few yellows, reds, and orange colors are seen as well. I open the freezer again and this one is also empty.

The walk in freezer is actually just a few shelves holding a few large racks of ribs, whole chickens and turkeys. On the top shelf I see alcohol.

I then leave the kitchen to investigate the pantry, when I enter I am shocked to find so little. The pantry only has about two feet of room to walk in, then shelves. The highest shelf is about a foot over my head. In the pantry I find various types of flour, at least twenty types of pasta, four large bags of different kinds of potatoes, and a couple of baskets of fruit. Each of the items is held in clear jars, said jars are attached to the shelves my guess is to keep food well stored during the shift. The fruit baskets appear to each just have a variety of fruit. On my right there is a spice rack taking up the entirety of the wall on my left is various canned goods. I then notice that the canned goods are significantly less than the rest of the food, and does not appear to have any method to the sorting, I see a can of meat next to a can of apple pie filling next to a can of steamed tomatoes.

My mind then begins to wonder of the shift, I have spent about fifteen minutes since leaving the room although I cannot be certain. And I need to eat, but do I have enough time to get back to the room. I grab an apple from one of the fruit baskets and begin to eat. I decide to find a place to wait out the shift, and then I will begin cooking a proper meal.

I return to the kitchen and begin plotting the next shift. I don't have many options. I could sit in the sink and hope I don't fly out. I could hide in one of the freezers but that could get uncomfortable very quickly with the cold. I take another bite out of my apple and think of another option. I then look at the ovens and am tempted by the idea. I open the nearest oven and remove the cooking racks. I size up the dimensions of the oven, I am not as skinny as I used to be but I think I could still fit inside.

After some awkward positioning I managed to fit myself into the oven. I decide it is best to leave the door open to keep air circulating. I fit in well enough, even though I have to curl up a little bit. I take another bite of my apple as I wait.

Just then I hear a scream, and I shut the oven door. From the position I am in the knife handle is digging into my hip but I ignore it. I hear the door to the dining area open in a frenzy. I look out the window of the oven, thanking god it was tinted, and I see a tribute run in front of the oven, as they pass I hear the pots and pans being kicked. I hear the door to the pantry open and close as the dining area opens and closes again.

"He's in that room over there Maverick" I hear a voice say, I recognize the male but I can't place his voice.

"I got him Aries, you just guard the door in case he makes a break for it." Maverick responds and then I remember the two boys from ten, and then who ever ran by first makes three, the game makers must be getting bored.

"Remember I want him alive you dolt." Aries says as Maverick enters my field of view on the other side of the prep table, he is holding a knife and has a backpack on his back. Although it doesn't look like my knife it is too small.

"Well dumbass, who here is holding the gun?" Maverick says with a smirk, as he moves across the room. Out of my line of sight. "You hear that boy, we don't wanna kill you so just come out nice n' slow." I hear the door to the pantry open slightly. "Atta boy now watch I just gonna put this knife down right here on the table" I hear a clang and assume he was true to his word and put the knife down. Then the door opens some more and I hear it close. "Now let's just have ourselves" He stops speaking and I hear what I can only imagine is a sucker punch. "A nice little chat." As he said that I hear a body fall to the floor. I doubt a punch cold kill that quickly though.

"Not bad cuz." I hear Aries say across the room "I'll get a chair you tie him up." I hear the door open and close twice. I hear a loud thump, which I guess is a chair being placed firmly on the floor. Through the glass I see Aries and Maverick dragging the body of the other tribute across the room. I hear two grunts as they sit the boy up right in the chair.

"Make sure you get him tight I don't want him to escape." Aries says. "Go through his pockets, take whatever you can find. Wake him up and pump him for information, I doubt he doesn't have a backpack hidden somewhere. Look for all his supplies and make sure he was alone, if he don't wanna talk, make him more talkative. I'm gonna go meet up with the careers." Aries says taking control of the situation.

"Dude, you sure you can trust them?" Maverick asks concern evident in his voice. "I'm not sure you should be anywhere near them the careers always end the alliance bloody, and with that many how can you be so sure."

"See, with a pack of eighteen instead of six, I'm expecting it to end bloody but what I don't want is for them to divide up into groups of six. I'm going to try and get them to have an uneven break you know make them decide who they can get further with." Aries says confidently. "The only real threat is Cato, with the highest score he will probably be the 'leader' of the group. All I have to do is wait for him to fuck up and bingo, power struggle."

"Then what about the girl from Twelve, she scored an eleven too." Maverick asks still obviously worried.

"I wouldn't care too much about her. She may have scored high, but she has the people skills of a doorknob. She probably couldn't even get the others from Twelve to help her." He says laughing at his joke. "Now hurry up. Keep track of how many people are still alive when there are about twenty left meet me at the center of the arena. Hopefully by then the number of tributes in the career pack will have died off." And with that Aries left. Maverick sighed loudly.

"Stay safe cuz, if not for my sake for your momma." Maverick says so quietly I almost didn't hear him. "C'mon boy wake up" Maverick says as he begins to lightly slap the boy. "Well shit" He must not have woken up. "Fucking pussy I didn't hit you that hard." Maverick is silent for about a minute before he mutters "aha, that'll do." I hear the chair being dragged, then a sudden clang of metal, the sound of running water then finally a scream.

"Please don't kill me, I will do anything you want just please don't kill me." The boy begged. I could tell from his tone that he was close to sobbing.

"Kid calm down." Maverick says, clearly frustrated. "Hello there my name is Maverick, I'm from District Ten, who are you?"

"I'm Lectric, I'm from district five." He says evidently still scared.

"Now Lectric I want you to tell me everything you know and if you are a good boy and tell the truth, I won't kill you. See a win win situation right?" Maverick says clearly lying again.

"What do you wanna know?" I can hear he is still crying.

"Where your backpack is for one, also if you are allied with anyone, and anything you think I should know." Maverick says as he comes back into my line of sight. He jumps up and sits on the prep table with his back to me.

"Well you should know that I am alone you and your friend were the first ones to find me, where is he anyway." He says trying to stop crying.

"I'll be asking the questions squirt. Now where are your supplies?" Maverick asks feigning anger.

"I left it behind the front desk when you two walked in the door. I panicked and didn't think to grab it." He stops for a moment. "There is someone else in the hotel." I take in a breath when he says this. "I do not know who it is all I know is that they are staying in the penthouse."

"And how, pray tell, did you come across this information?" Maverick asks as he stands up.

"When I was behind the front desk, I saw that the penthouse key was missing. I was about to leave then you guys came in, and here we are." Lectric says calmly. He just bought himself precious time.

"Well if that is the case then, I'm just gonna make sure we aren't interrupted." He walks to the back of the room. I hear the scrape of metal as he gets his knife from the table. "Why don't you just sit tight till I get back, hmm?" With that he saunters out the room with a scowl on his face.

I just sit waiting, thinking of what my next move should be. Should I move and attempt to get the upper hand in a knife fight. Should I stay put and wait out my visitors. And what about the shift. Should I change hiding places while he is checking the penthouse? Should I go back to the room for my gun.

As I am lost in my thoughts the room goes dark followed by a scream from Lectric. I wonder what is going on. Then I am answered by the starting of the shift. I am pushed, my back pressed against the back wall of the oven, as well additional stress on my upper back and head. I feel the familiar press on my chest and stomach. Once again it is hard to breathe. I hear the chairs and cutlery in the dining area shuffle and shift as they are thrown about. Although this is mostly drowned out by Lectric's screaming. After a moment the shift stops, the stress on my head is quickly moved to my legs, and I hear a bang followed by and 'ow' which I assume Lectric has hit something upon the stop of the shift.

The lights flicker for a second but ultimately stay off. I tentatively open the oven and work my way out. My whole body is sore, I stretch as well as I can. I move towards the door in the dark.

"Who is there?" I hear Lectric scream when I step on a pot.

When I finally make it out the door I am in the dining area, lucky for me there is just enough sun in the sky for a little bit of light to come through the skylight. I quickly work my way through the tables, and out the door. I run down the hall the power is still off some kind of reserve power is on I can see the stairwell sign is glowing. The dial on top of the elevators says one of them is currently stuck in between the first and second floor.

I run to the stairwell and begin going up the stairs as fast as I can. The reserve power is keeping the light in the stairwell on but I want to hurry even still. The knife bounces in my pocket as I make my way up. As I am just leaving the fourth floor I notice that the lights suddenly got brighter, I assume that the power has come back on.

My suspicions are confirmed when I open the door to the fifth floor, and light shines at me. It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust then I run to room 591. My hand is shaking as I grab the key from my back pocket. It takes two tries for me to get the door open. When I do I see that the back pack has moved from its place on the bed during the shift. It now rests in the gap between the bed and the wall. I grab the backpack pack, and open it and begin shifting through it. I find what I was looking for the gun. Though I would rather not waste the bullets I decide best not get injured in a knife fight. I have six bullets, I will only use one. If need be I will shoot him then use the knife to finish the job.

I put the key back into my pocket and run out into the hall. I work my way back to the elevator and see on the dial that one of them is at the pent house. I figure it best to lie in wait, and catch him off guard. As I wait my mind begins to wander, will I really kill this man, this boy that I don't even know. Will I really be forced to do it to survive. Can I even say that I don't have a choice. I know he intends to kill me and anyone else in the arena. But can I do it can I end another human life.

I see that the dial is starting to move again, that the elevator has moved. I hit the down button so that naturally it will stop on its way down. I remember what I was taught how to stand how to hold it. The elevator is getting nearer I can hear it moving now. The door begins to open with a loud 'ding' and I steel my nerves. The doors widen and I can see him, I aim the gun. I then lock eyes with him. As I pull the trigger I see his casual glare, turn into a look of surprise. And it is as if time has stopped. And it is just the two of us forever in this look. I can't image what my face looks like right now. Resolve. Fear. Determination. Surprise. And then it is over.

My bullet hit him in the face about an inch above his right eye. His blood and brains painted the wall of the elevator. The force of the shot sent his head back against the wall of the elevator. His body slowly begins to slump to the ground leaving him in a sitting position. As his body hits the floor, the canon goes off. When the sound of the canon finishes the doors begin to close. And the elevator finishes taking him back to the ground floor.

I drop the gun and it clatters when it hits the ground. I slowly lower myself to the ground. Tears are starting to form in my eyes. I cannot breathe, my hand shoots up to my mouth to stop the scream. My body begins to go into tremors and I feel the urge to vomit. The urge becomes the need as the apple I ate, comes back up with some bile. Then I remember I will have to do this again if I plan to survive. And I will probably have to do it soon.

**So yeah, this took forever to write, my writers block has been acting up. So yeah tell me what you think. –Eddie xoxoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

Falling Chapter IX

I do not know how much time has passed; minutes, hours, seconds. My body is still dry-heaving, trying to remove what has been long gone. Aside from the retching, my convulsions have stopped. I am simply lying on the floor. When my body finally ends the attempted vomiting, I begin to curl my body bringing my legs into my chest.

I have just killed a man. Not even a man, a boy really. And why did I do that? I think my mind racing. Did he have to die? Well, he was going to kill me, wasn't he? And if not me then that boy from District 5. He was prepared to torture and murder that kid. I did him a favor. Or did I? My mind suddenly stopped.

I might have to kill him. I could let him go, but what if he kills me instead? Is he capable of killing? Am I, truly? It didn't even seem real until now. With my mind still racing I sit up. The stench of bile is becoming overwhelming, so I stand and begin walking, just wanting to put the elevator out of sight.

I move through halls with my mind still focused on the scene I left. Without paying attention, my feet have lead me to Room 591. I reach into my back pocket and pull out the key. I go into the room, and begin to gather my things. I place the knife in my pocket and the gun in the backpack. As I finish packing the bag, I take a look around the room. I feel as if I will not be seeing it again. I place the key at the bottom of my backpack, and leave the room.

I walk slowly through the halls, dreading what I know I must do next. When I reach the elevators, I can't even bring myself to look at them. I decide to take the stairs instead.

As I descend to the first floor I have plenty of time to think. After I kill that boy downstairs, I can make a meal and move on. Maybe I will luck out and not have any more encounters today. I mean having technically met three people, already killed one, on my way to kill another; maybe the game makers will take pity on me.

When I reach the ground floor, I pause for a moment as a thought crosses my mind. Is surviving these games is going to be worth the pain I am going to have to put myself through? I sit on the stairs and begin to wonder, if I died now would it matter? It would certainly be easier than living with myself.

I take the knife from my pocket. I examine it in its sheath, somewhat long for a knife; throwing it would do no good. I remove it from its case and see it shine in the light. I think back to when I was carving my skin, I wonder how using this knife would feel. Then I remember this knife is special.

I tap the knife on the metal guardrail of the stairs and sparks fly. I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach, like when you do something you know you aren't supposed to do. I place the knife on the metal and simply keep it there letting the sparks fly. I only place the tip of the knife as not to injure. The feeling in my stomach is spreading all over my body.

Out of curiosity I slowly start to slide the knife upwards, getting slowly closer to the hilt of the blade. The sparks only get larger and larger as I move closer to the hilt. Finally my self-preservation kicks in and I realize I am starting to shock my hands from the flying sparks. I take the knife off the metal and sheathe the blade once again and put it in my bag. I get up and decide to push on a little longer.

I walk out of the stairwell and make my way back to the kitchen. As I cross the lobby I glance at the elevator and a chill goes down my spine. But for the time being I must ignore it. I must keep my resolve, if not for my preservation, then as an act of mercy to that boy.

I walk from the lobby down the hallway to the dining room. I hear his sounds of struggle, as I near the doorway. I walk in and immediately the noise stops. He is aware of my presence. As I proceed across the dining room, the noise starts again even more franticly. I reach the kitchen and the noise is now accompanied by loud sobbing. I brace myself and walk in.

I am greeted by a blood curdling scream, from the minute I walk in. Lectric then begins to flail in a vain effort to move away from me. In all honesty he looks pretty pathetic, tied to a chair that has fallen over. The sounds I heard earlier were Lectric attempting to either move or break free. If the former then he has succeeded, as he has moved from the doorway to the middle of the room. If the latter then he has failed, as I can tell his bindings are very much still in place. The chair he is in has arm rests were his arms are bound. His legs are in turn tied to the front to legs of the chair. And his torso is kept by ropes connected to the backrest. As I near him I notice that the ropes on his chest have vertical strips of rope tying them together to keep his bindings attached to the chair.

As I get closer he only gets louder until finally I snap. "Would you just shut up." I scream at him. I must have really scared him because he stops screaming and forces his lips closed by biting them. He is still sobbing as he cannot mask that sound completely. Tears are still running down his face. Seeing him this terrified, I cannot help but think of Soot and Prim. I take off my backpack and grab the knife from my pocket and he immediately begins screaming again. I kneel beside him.

"Please no don't do it." He screams his voice frantic and breaking from his screaming. "Please don't kill me I'll do anything." Seeing him there triggers something in my mind. Now it's not just Soot and Prim. I see them in the face of Lectric, each with an expression of terror. Now I see the girl from District Eleven, Rue. I see the children that would come to the bakery and look at the cakes. Familiar faces begin painting themselves onto Lectric's. A little boy with blonde hair, a girl with red hair and freckles, faces from the bakery until finally I see my oldest brother, Rye. It is not actually him though, rather him from when he would have been around Lectric's age. I see the ghost imprint of a hand shaped bruise on Rye's face as I remember the time he stole some cookies from the bakery to give to a girl in his class. Then I see my other brother Soda, a little older than Lectric at the time, when I had burned bread to give to Katniss and had gotten punished for it. He stood up for me and received a hit to the head with a rolling pin. This is why instead of Lectric I see my brother Soda with a rather large lump on his forehead. My brothers and I had this mutual agreement of saving each other when things were really awful. But when mother started to single out me, it became more of an "every man for himself" situation. I am drawn back to reality by more pleas from the screaming boy. I am still holding the knife. He is still begging. "Please find it in your heart to show me mercy. I'll do anything." He screamed.

"Alright enough." I shout as I slam the sheathed knife down next to his head, getting his attention. I grab the back of the chair and force it into an upright position. I then proceed to drag it across the room and out the door to the dining area. I place him at a table with him facing to door to the lobby. "Now you are going to sit there and keep an eye on the door. If you see anyone you are going to tell them I am upstairs in the penthouse. Got it?" He replies only with a nod.

I walk back to the kitchen and think about what to do. I can't kill him: I guess I don't have it in me to knowingly kill an innocent kid. I grab the knife off the floor, place it in the backpack, and begin to think about what to do next when I reminded by my stomach that I haven't had a proper meal in about a day's time. I decide to put my idle hands to work making food, to give me some time to clear my head and plan. I couldn't kill him so I suppose I should just make my meal and move on.

I make a simple meal, a quick mix of ground beef and potatoes with some spices. Not much for a breakfast but I figure it will keep me full. I have made enough for maybe three people. I don't worry about the dishes as I doubt anyone will mind, plus if a clean cooking pan is needed someone could just grab another one off the floor. If anyone does mind they could take it up with the gamemakers. I place the food on two plates and walk out the door.

I am greeted with the sight of Lectric about four feet from the table. I sigh loudly, walk over to the table and put the food down. I then walk over to Lectric grab the chair by the backrest and roughly drag him back to the table. After putting him in front of a plate, I walk across the room to get a chair for myself. I grab two rolls of cutlery off the floor as well. Upon returning to the table I see that Lectric is just staring at the food in front of him.

"Aren't you lucky I'm so nice," I say as I sit down at the table. I break the paper seal off the cloth napkin and take out the cutlery and place the napkin down. Grabbing the fork and stirring the food I begin to speak. "Here is a little gift to you." I pause to take a bite. "Nothing major, just some food to help you keep going." I then stand up and reach across the table and steal a bite from his plate. "It isn't poisoned if you are wondering. Sorry to leave you tied up but you understand better not to take chances." I take a few bites, he is silent so I look up and see he is still staring at the food. "I'll untie you on my way out. Maverick is dead so you won't need to worry about him, and I'm sure that Aries, the other guy who was chasing you, is long gone by now. He might have even been in a different ring when the Shift happened. Either way once I leave you won't have much to worry about."

"Why are you doing this?" He finally asks, I can tell he is still very scared. "Why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance?"

I take a minute to finish the bite of food in my mouth. "Well I cannot honestly justify killing you yet. I mean if you were an awful person or a threat to me I wouldn't hesitate. One thing that I refuse to let happen to myself is to compromise what I believe in, because that would mean that I wouldn't be me. Take Maverick for instance; not only was he hunting me down, I heard him and Aries talking about torturing you for information then killing you." When I am done talking I continue eating.

Lectric is silent for a few minutes giving me the opportunity to eat about half of my meal. Finally he starts to talk to me again. "Your name is Peter, right?" He asks in a meek voice.

"Close." I reply in between bites. "Peeta. I'm from District Twelve. And I heard you while I was hiding in the oven. You are Lectric, from District Five." I say simply.

"Earlier you called that earthquake a Shift. What does that mean?" He asks curiously.

"That isn't an earthquake. The arena is literally shifting and rearranging itself," I say, off hand.

"How do you know that?"

"I was on high ground for the first one and I saw them." I decide to keep the televisions a secret for now. "The buildings in front of me went one way and the ones behind me went another way."

"Oh." He says quietly. "I didn't realize." He is even quieter now, and I realize he must feel bad for not noticing. In the games empty headedness will easily get you killed.

He remains quiet until I finish my meal. I get up and walk over to the kitchen and grab my backpack. When I get back to the table I grab an unused dinner knife and cut one of the ropes on his left wrist. He isn't free but he should be able to wiggle his left arm out of the bindings, then cut himself free with the knife.

"Later." I say setting the knife down as I walk away. "And may the odds be ever in your favor." I say sarcastically as I walk out the door.

I leave the hotel, unsure of where to go. I weigh my options, away from the center is safe but the arena might attack me to push me back in. If I go inward, I run a much higher risk of running into another tribute. After a moment of looking up and down the street, I decide to stay in my own ring for the time being.

I head inward the half block to the nearest street, turn left and begin walking clockwise in the circle I have occupied. Walking the empty streets gives me plenty of time to think. About the games, about Cato, about what I am going to do. I automatically make a mental map of all the buildings I pass as I attempt to walk a decent distance. After hours of walking I find my mind empty and I am simply going through the motions step by step.

After another hour or so of mindlessly walking forward my feet bring my attention back to the real world. They have begun to ache and I decide that it is time for a short break from the walking. The area I am in is very conflicting. To my right is a set of apartment buildings that were clearly from the slums of this city. Broken and dilapidated buildings that were clearly falling apart. Broken windows and doors barely hanging on hinges where in plain sight. On my left there is a four story plaza like building with a lot of glass windows taking up the entirety of the block I'm on. Inside I see shops and bright flashing signs competing for my attention. I remember Portia mentioned a place like this and she called it a mall. Then Flavius chided her for using such outdated unfashionable words and told her to call it by name as a 'Grand Market'.

I decide to look around the mall for a place to rest. I enter and I instantly smell food, to my right I see a large sign that says 'food court' and decide it is where I want to be. The food court takes up two stories with a balcony on the second floor overlooking a dining area on the first floor. Said dining area, like in the hotel, has tables bolted to the floor but chairs all missing. After a bit of searching, I find them lining the wall of a shop a bit away from the food court. In the center of the dining area there is square column rising out of the ground, with four televisions large enough that both stories could easily see them broadcasting the games.

The walls are lined with shops that have food out for show in sealed cases. As I near the shops I see the cases also hold the food in such a manner that they would be relatively unaffected by the shifts. The food is also kept under lamps to keep it warm. Some of the food I knew from my time in the bakery, others I recognize from my time in The Capitol, but a lot of it I didn't recognize.

Walking up to the nearest stall I am happy to see something I recognize, burgers. I knew of burgers when I was back in twelve, my father liked to take the squirrels he bought and put them between two slices of bread. He would always talk about what a real burger would taste like, made with beef. When I was in the Capitol one day we were given what we were told were burgers. It was a prime cut of meat, which was cooked to order between a very small loaf of bread that was cut in half. Frankly I preferred the squirrel.

The burgers were wrapped in foil, as I removed the foil I realized two things. That the bread was so dry it was hard as a rock, probably from being under the lamp for so long. And that the meat was different than the one I was given in the capitol. It was a patty, of what looked like ground up meat. I simply left the bread and only ate the meat. I decided best to save my jerky and for now work with the food I can find.

After the first burger I grab two more and move over to a table. I didn't feel inclined to walk across the room for a chair and simply sat on the table. I faced the televisions and decided to do some spying. Right now the games are showing Caesar by himself as he commentates on the nature of the games.

"So far this Game has proven to be worth the wait, and it has certainly lived up to the hype, am I right everybody?" Caesar said to the camera and paused as the audience on his show started cheering. After a minute he motions for them to settle down. "Now I know a lot of people were let down because of the lack of an opening bloodbath, but I think we are going to see a lot of interesting developments that might just help us get over that. Now so far only a handful of tributes have found one of thousands of televisions we have placed in the arena, and I am certain that each one of them has a plan to use them to their full advantage." Caesar cues the broadcasters to change what the screen is showing as he puts his hand to his earpiece. "Okay folks, I have just been informed that our dear friend, Claudius Templesmith, has just been given an exclusive interview with Plutarch Heavensbee. Claudius, are you there? Come in Claudius." His smiling face cues everyone in on the joke of the statement before the picture changes and I see Claudius in the gamemakers room with an older man.

"Hello Caesar, and hello everybody watching at home. It is correct I am here with head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee..."

I decide that I would probably not get any useful information watching this. Looking around I see a shop that has a refrigerator filled with drinks. I walk up to it and see that there isn't any water just a lot of the Capitol drinks called 'sodas'. I personally do not care for them, they are too sweet and the bubbles tickle my tongue. I grab one anyway, unable to really be picky, and sit back on the table.

"So tell me Plutarch where has the inspiration for the arena come from?" Claudius asks from the television.

Plutarch smiles like this is the question he was waiting for. "Well this whole arena was built around the entire foundation of this specific quell theme. As we are all aware, each quell has a theme, the first was choosing the tributes to show that it was the fault of the rebellion. And the second was the doubled tribute pool for the deaths of two rebels to every Capitol citizen. And this year, well I am sure you can just roll the clip."

At this a different image is shown, President Snow standing at his podium holding the envelope he has just claimed from the box. He opens it and begins reading. "On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that the Capitol has shown more generosity than malice each district will be given a higher chance of victory, by sending six tributes one year in advance to receive a greater level of training." At that the clip ended cutting back Claudius and Plutarch.

"So with the Capitols generosity in mind we built this arena." Plutarch says with smugness in his voice. "There was an arena already built, but I had an idea the minute I heard the president make the announcement. I remember I booked a meeting with the president that day to get the new arena approved, he fell in love with the idea and here we are. This arena has an abundance of food and water, and many weapons are hidden, and in plain sight at that. And speaking of weapons we even got approval for the use of guns. Over the years the use of guns in the games has been a hot topic of debate but this year we not only got to put them in but the tributes received training for the guns they might wield. The tributes can even watch the games in the games." Plutarch speaks as if he were a proud parent watching a baby take their first steps.

"Needless to say this embodies the generosity of the Capitol very well and I am sure President Snow is proud." Claudius says then turning to look directly at the camera. "And speaking of President Snow, tonight he will be in the studio with Caesar and myself to give his personal insight and commentary. Back to you Caesar." And with that the screen began to show Caesar again.

Caesar immediately cut back to the games, it showed various people walking until it found the careers, well part of them at least. Aries was speaking before a group of careers who had him at the ends of their blades and guns. I counted three from District 1, two boys and one girl, and four from District 4, two and two. And although he was staring down seven weapons, Aries seemed pretty calm.

"My friends you need to listen to me." Aries' voice wasn't nervous either. "He will only be trouble if you let him live too long. I mean a score of eleven means chances are he is going to make it to the final few, unless we act first."

"You have a lot of nerve." One of the District 1 males responded, I think his name was Marvel. "And why shouldn't we just kill you. I mean your ten is better than my nine, by your logic I am solving a problem before it is a problem." He was clearly agitated by the other boy.

"Because say you make your career pack of eighteen, say you all manage to decimate the competition. Cato will lead district two to victory before you realize your cannon has sounded." Aries had a slight falter in his voice, this wasn't going the way he planned. "So you can kill me or you can keep me alive. Help me kill Cato, then you can blame it on me so that way District 2 will still help you in the long run. Not to mention help your own chances. You won't admit it now, but I know you are all afraid of him. And the minute your little alliance is broken, who are you going to wish was dead more? Cato or me?" This was his end game, he was betting with his life now.

The careers were silent until one of the girls from Four spoke up. "Unfortunately he has a point. I am in." The girl, Ampora I remembered her name was, hesitantly put down her weapon. The other girl from Four, Trytee, looked at her with a mild look of concern. Then one by one the slowly lowered their weapons. The last one to do so was Marvel.

"Give me even the slightest reason to distrust you, and I will skewer you." He said as he lowered his spear slowly.

The television went back to Caesar who was saying some kind of commentary, but I wasn't listening. I was too surprised. Right now District 10 must be doing some sort of celebrating, whilst District 2 is probably cursing the name Aries La Rue.

My attention was forced back to the corporeal world at the sound of a battle cry, I turn towards the source and I see a girl who has just launched her trident at me. I manage to dodge to the left as the trident hits were my right leg was just resting. Getting up as quick as I can, I pry the trident out of the table. As I pull on the trident I look at my enemy, I recognize her by the long red hair. She is Ariel of District 4.

Ariel is standing in the Grand Mall's entry way, and is now rummaging through her bag, on instinct I throw the trident. She is quick though, almost instantly she pushes her bag forward as hard as she can, causing the trident to skewer her bag all the way through. This desperate action manages to save her life, as the trident loses its momentum and lands in front of her, taking the bag with it. She quickly dislodges the bag from her weapon, watching me the whole while.

While she is occupied with that, I grab my bag and open it, keeping my eye on Ariel. She doesn't bother throwing it at me a second time, not wanting to waste time with a game of catch. Instead, she charges at me, brandishing the points towards me. Rather than hunting blindly for the gun, I pull out the knife which is at the top of the bag. I unsheathe it and I get an idea. I hold my ground as Ariel runs at me. At the last second I sidestep, ready to stab her as she rushes past me. She must have seen that coming because in the last second she tackled forward and rolled into a somersault, ending in crouch.

She quickly turns around and extends the trident with the intent to stab me in the chest. On impulse I attempt to block with the knife, putting it between the prongs of the trident. As the knife makes contact, sparks fly, the trident and Ariel's arm begin to shake with the current of the knife as the forward motion is ended, and her fingers convulse, her grip almost failing before she tightens her hold. In an automatic response, Ariel jerks the trident straight up to get it away, but, unluckily for me, inadvertently knocks the knife out of my hands with the prongs, and I stumble and fall flat as the motion makes my hands go wide.

Ariel proceeds to angle the trident with the intention of shoving it in my chest, spearing me to the ground. "Now I have you, you little—" Her words end abruptly, and wetly, as I hear a sickening thunk. A second one sounds and she drops the trident and falls forward onto me, and I automatically reach out to cushion her fall against me. As her head falls against my shoulder, I lift my head and see two arrows sticking out of her body, gruesomely reminiscent of a pin cushion. One pokes out of her back and one from her neck. And then the cannon sounds as I lift my eyes to the archers.


End file.
